Our Family Vacation!

Sorry it has taken so long to post again. We went on vacation and we didn't have internet access for the first few days then the internet in the hotel was slower than molasses in January....it was like dial-up - it was bad. it was more frustrating than it was worth trying to post. And since we got home our internet has been having problems...maybe it doesn't like the snow either.
OUR TRIP! So, we left on the 21st, we flew into San Fran, our friend Annette picked us up and took us to her house in Monterey. We stayed there for the weekend. Dave and Mindy and Derek went too. (Mindy's sister lives in Monterey too.) this is what our time looked like. I hope you enjoy the slide show to go with this narrative. (I decided to do a slide show because there were too many cool pictures to post individually.) Enjoy! :o)

Day 1:
We got on the plane and flew SLC to SFO. Fortunately the DMV isn't far from the airport, so I was able to renew my license and go on vacation with Jon and Garen! (Thanks Mom and Dad for coming back to get me and take care of that!) Got our luggage and drove to Monterey. We went over to Mindy's sister's house and walked down to the wharf for dinner. It was a a very expensive fish place, but pretty tasty. Then we walked back and saw the sea lions, they were like 2 feet away from us. It was cool.

Day 2:
Saturday morning we got up and going for the day and headed to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was awesome. (Annette got us free tickets, which makes it even BETTER!) We did an otter fact scavenger hunt and won "otter boxes" (the are water proof boxes that you can put your stuff in so it won't get wet.) Then we moved on to the deep sea, the touch tanks, and then the living jellyfish art. That was COOL! We saw the great white shark and HUGE sun fish. Then we had lunch.
After lunch it was time to go Whale Watching! Talk about a trill!!! I have wanted to go whale watching my whole life! We took a 2 1/2 hour tour on the "Monterey star". It had been raining all morning but it cleared up and warmed up for our trip. It was a perfect day to be whale watching. (Thanks to Michelle for taking the kids! - Mindy's sister took Derek and Garen home with her so they wouldn't get sick on the boat. We really appreciated it! Thanks again!!) I was worried that we may not see whales but we did! So there was nothing to worry about. The other cool thing was that is was $25 but we got a "military discount" and only paid $20/person (Thanks Ren!!)
After the TOTALLY AWESOME whale tour, we went to Chipoltle(?sp?) for dinner, yummy! then back to Ren and Annette's to hang out! (And dress up like a bunny and army men! - heehee)

whale tails!

Day 3 (Sunday)
We went to church, which is always a nice thing! Then we had a lazy Sunday with Ren and Nette. It was nice to just hang out with good friends and take it easy. Nette and I did drive over to Fort Ord to see it all boarded up. I wanted to see it since my dad was stationed there for a little while before he went to Germany back in 61-62.

Garen and Daddy playing!

Day 4 (Monday)
This was a little hectic but fun. We went to Pacific Grove and played on the beach and saw the lighthouse. Then I introduced them to the avocado sandwich. (YUMMY!!!) We then headed to San Fran. Dave and Mindy stayed in the same hotel as us, which was fun. Annette headed back to Monterey and We headed into downtown. We met Miryoung at Ghiradelli square for dinner and icecream. On the way back to the hotel we took a detour and drove down the steepest street in San Fran. It was like going on a roller coaster - after you crest the hill, you just hang there suspended in seemingly nothing until your car gets pointed down and you are hanging there as you start your decent. It was REALLY steep! It was AWESOME!! It was worth the detour to hear Dave Whooping in the car behind us! It was SWEET!

it is hard to tell but this is the steepest hill!

Day 5 (Tuesday)
We headed out and went to Golden Gate Park. We parked our cars and walked. We took cool family pictures and walked around some more. We saw the conservatory, the Museum, a big stage, the Japaneese tea garden, and the Shakespeare Garden. It was a good time. We then drove over to the Golden Gate bridge. Did some walking around and picture taking. Then back to downtown to ride a trolley. We drove down the crookedest street in SF then parked. Walked to the trolley station, took that to Union Square for lunch then back on to the trolley which took us to the top of the Crookedest street - ultimately back to our cars! I was a great time with Dave and Mindy. But they had to get to the airport to come home. they left and we went to Coit Tower. Then back to the hotel where we found a grocery store to buy food for a few days and just hung out and watched a movie.

Me in Shakespeare's Garden

Day 6 (Wednesday)
We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge to the Muir Woods, a small Redwood forest about 15 miles from the SF. It was a pleasant drive and very beautiful. We took a nice hike through the woods and enjoyed the wonderful weather and the beauty of the forest. It was GREAT! On the drive to the Muir woods I was looking at a booklet that I picked up somewhere and found that there was Jelly Belly Factor not to far and they had free tours with free samples. So we headed East to see how jelly belly's are made. It was fun. Garen didn't like wearing his hat but he did OK. He liked sitting next to Mr. Jelly Belly at the end of the tour. He is soo cute! We went back to Ghiradelli Square for ice cream and did a little souvenir shopping. Then back to the hotel for the night.

Yeah for Jelly Belly's!

Day 7 (Thursday)
We saw what we went to see in SF so we drove back to Monterey to see Ren and Annette again. They both had to work but we managed on our own until they got home. When we got into town Garen needed some stretch time before his nap so we went to the Dennis the Mennis Park. He also turned 10 months on this day so we took some 10 Month pics. He is growing up so fast! After he chased the birds we headed to the 17-mile drive. It was beautiful...we saw birds on Seal Rock and seals on Bird Rock and the Lone Cypress. It was a overcast and cold, but it was a nice day for a drive. We spent the evening hanging out with Ren and Annette and that was lovely too. Jon and Ren played computer games while Nette and I went shopping.

Daddy and Garen at the Lone Cypress

Day 8 (Friday)
We drove back toward SF, we got directions to go to the Oakland temple. Jon was REALLY tired driving up so when we go to the temple, I took Garen into the Visitor's center and then we walked around the temple while Daddy took a nap. We made our way back to the hotel and went to bed. It was a GREAT trip.

Garen stole the tortilla - I think he was hungry!

Day 9 (Saturday)
We came home....to snow! UGH! I guess it is back to "real" life again. and recover from vacation! Jon asked me what my favorite part was: I narrowed it down to 3 things. Whale watching - because I have wanted to do that my whole life, so it was a dream come true. The Steepest Hill in SF - because it made Dave so happy! and The Jelly Belly Factory - because we were flexible enough to change our plans to do something different and fun. I did love it all! It was great to see friends and hang out and conquer a new city. It put Jon more at ease with the possibility of moving out of state in Feb. Just knowing that we can find our way around and we can feel at home somewhere new, wherever the Lord has in mind for us to go. Until next time - Love you! later! :o)

I took this pic for mom, it was the USAirways Plane that I saw in SLC as we were walking to baggage claim. Enjoy! :o)

Strawberry Reservior

I LOVE MOOSE!!!
On our way to Strawberry I saw this moose taking a drink, we passed up then flipped a U-ey to go back and get pictures!

Did I mention that I love Moose?

These are the lovely spawning salmon that we went to see. I really like their red color...unfortunately for them, it means that they are going to die soon. But they are pretty. I guess there really is a bright side to everything! Every time I look at these pictures. I think of the Heywood Banks song about the day that the cartoon animals returned to their natural state. ... it is a funny song the chorus has this line...

"Smokey the bear is chockin' on a camper, Smokey the bear is chokin' on a camper..."
So that was the song that KJ and I kept singing and singing every time we saw him. I know it is bad...but kinda funny! :o)
Anyway this is Papa, Ashton, Ransom and Manda chillin' with Smokey!

Jon and Garen got their turn too! :o)

now this is a chinchilla, found in the mountains of Peru. She, Gizmo, was VERY soft. PG isn't sure what to think of things that he can pet yet. Notice his lovely outfit. He dropped his bottle upside down in his carseat and it leaked on his pants, so I put the only other pants on him that I had. they just happened to be pj bottoms. Jon kept laughing at how bad he looked, how mismatched...I will remember that for the next time that he dresses him! ;o)
We took a little drive around the reservoir. When the paved road ended, we decide to go to the shore to walk around then head back. We went out a dock and a family was using raw chicken legs on a string to catch crawdads. I was amazed. They clamp on and you just pull the string up and throw the thing in a bucket. This is John showing it to Ransom, who is trying hard to get his finger stuck...in it's pinchers. It was really cool. I learned yesterday that Crawdads are the freshwater, small version on a lobster. It is all so interesting!

These pictures are of Grandpa with the little boys. Ransom just grabbed his finger and was happy as a clam to be walking with grandpa. Garen was happy to have a ride and I was happy that grandpa had a hat on to protect his head! :o)

They sure love Grandpa! :o)




















On the way home we stopped at a restaurant called Dairy Keen - Home of the train!
notice the sign in the background...it says - Caution: rough ride, Use at your own risk! That is amusing! at least to us it was!
We headed back after that, made a quick stop at the Park City Outlets...I got 5 tee-shirts, a church shirt, a sweater and matching hat, and 2 pair of pants. all for under $40! That was good stuff! I have Garen outfited again for the next few months! :o)

Big things over the few days!

Grandma Buckman gave me some little songs to start teaching PG the notes on the keyboard. When I got home, I was practicing and PG wanted to help, so I showed him D and sang the little song. He got his little pointer fingers out and was hitting the keys just like I showed him. Sometimes his little hand would accidentally hit other keys with his hand but he was so cute!

"hot dog D on a bun"

I introduced PG to Mac and cheese. Just for a change of flavor I made oodles of noodles for him. I think he liked them. ..
OODLES OF NOODLES!!! Yummy!
Not as much as the Mac and Cheese!I had a Mary Kay party last night. We did a foot spa class. PG was giving daddy a hard time about going to bed so he came in to see us. He sat on Grandma's lap and tried soo hard to get to the water. But her water was too hot. so I took him and my water was just right. He stood like that for about 5 minutes. It was fun. He is a cutie! And now he has nice soft, clean feetsies! :o)

Ride 'em cowboy!

Friday nite KJ, PG and I went to the Rodeo with Grandma and Grandpa. We had a great time. It is so amazing and fun to watch. PG did really good considering his bed time is around 8pm and we didn't leave the rodeo until 9:30pm. He kept trying to fall asleep then the crowd would go crazy and he would jerk back up. But he didn't complain, he just took it in stride and I think he even enjoyed it. Especially because he got to spend time with Grandpa. This boy definitely has eyes for grandpa! This is a video of the bull ride that ended the night. It was kind of a sad ending, but after about 10 minutes he regain consciousness and the took him to the hospital. It was just crazy. WARNING: the video is a bit graphic, it is a bull riding accident, so watch at your OWN risk. or don't watch it at all!




Saturday Tera and Isaiah came over. Garen likes to play with Uncle Isaiah and he sits so nice and reads books with Aunt Tera. This is PG wearing UI's sunglasses. He is cute when he scrunches up his nose. :o)
We introduced Isaiah to our fly swatter, man...he had a GREAT time with that!!!!Sunday (yesterday) we had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house to celebrate September birthday's. It is nice to have Joy and family living close, we could celebrate with 3 of our 5 September birthdays! Happy Birthday!!! (to all of you!)
after dark we noticed that there was a fire on antelope Island. It was a big fire too! This is another attempt at using my camera in the dark. I really need to take some photography classes. :o) That is all for now. I hope you have a great day! Until next time, love you!!
Love ME

Labor day weekend

Over the last week I have been making cards. I make them for my Mom. (I figure if she is going to pay for birthday cards for the family, she may as well pay me...right?) I apologize in advance for whom ever will receive this card but I had to share. This one is my favorite of all the 15 that I have made in the last week.

I just thought my dragon is really cute. I hope you enjoy it...who ever the luck recipient is to any of my cards. I did work hard to make them nice for Mom to give them to you! :o)

I am not the only one loving the piano. KJ loves to practice. He is excited to get good at playing Fur Elise. Not to mention PG LOVES the piano! Every chance he gets he wants to get up and play. When I am practicing he comes over and dances while I play and he presses keys, then dances some more! It is funny!!Any, They put on the practice thingy (the keys light up and show you where to press to play the song.) and PG was playing "If Your Happy and you Know It" He and his daddy were sooo proud...Mom is too! :o)
This past weekend has been WONDERFUL. I love long weekends because I get to have Jon for an extra day. :o) So, yesterday we packed a lunch and loaded that car and went for a drive up MillCreek Canyon. It was really beautiful. I got a good dose of "Green" which is always nice for this eastern girl!
We parked and got out to take some pictures. the car was really close to a tree so I put PG on the top of the car so I didn't drop him or hurt us. He happily crawled over to daddy! he's so cute!
Look, a square rock. KJ is so cute too! He didn't have sandels on so he didn't get wet but we got a few great pictures just the same. :o)

This is PG and I, we had our toes in the freezing cold mountain stream. PG didn't like it so much but after a few minutes I got used to it. It was a good time!
We also took a new family picture. Of course it isn't the "best" because the camera was set on a drain pipe then I had to walk through the creek to get to the boys and get positioned without falling in...it was fun, but a little hairy at times. so it is what it is! Our Goofy family!
This one was just TOO cute not to include. I love happy boys! :o)
Here is PG with his little teeth! IF you look closely you can see all 4 of them. This is also cool, because we were at the doctor's office the other day and we asked if we could turn PG around in the car. The answer was obviously yes. He is 23-24 pounds and has great head control so the doctor said he was fine to put forward facing. It makes it so much easier to get him in and out now! He is just too big for his own good. :o) Put cute as heck! Jon mentioned yesterday that he keeps thinking that Garen is behind. Like he should be doing more things than he is. I think he is doing great. He says mama, dadda, shakes his head no and nods yes on occasion. He signs I love you, more, and milk. He crawls proficiently and furniture walks with the best of them. He now stand without holding on and contemplates taking that first step...and he is only 9 mo. old. I think he is fine. Maybe I will do a language assessment on him and see how he fairs.
We were supposed to go camping down in central UT but our friends that we were going with had to cancel, due to some family concerns. So we set up our tent in the front yard and slept outside at home. The weather was PERFECT! (although in the night from sat/sun. is started to sprinkle so we had to jump up and put the rain tarp on. it was funny. This is PG helping me take the tent down. He is a good helper. :o) He didn't sleep outside with us. We just put him to bed in his room and opened the window. We could here him better from the tent than we can from our room. It was fun. :o)
Hope your weekend was great too! Love you!
Love ME