Sunday, August 30, 2015

Lip Sync Battle at Rita Ranch

Is this Peter or Rick Astley? This week our ward held a ward party called Lip Sync battle - people submitted entries and we all enjoyed a night of silliness and music!
The talented Jenny made fix ears and tails for her and the kids and they lip synced to the song "What does the Fox say?" It was so cute and the kids had a great time!
Jackson always gets to model for his moms creations, soon he will think he's too old!

Polar Bear Leap

I wanted to post these amazing photos Ciry sent back form the 83 parallel on his voyage to the North Pile with the Ciast Guard Cutter Healy and crew! This polar bear is ruggedly handsome! So healthy looking!
Cory captured this shot of him preparing to leap from one ice floe to another, get ready... Get set...
Well it might take a drink of water and some dinner to get the courage to make that leap!
...GO!  What a beautiful photograph! 

Three Dog Night

Len surprised me with concert tickets to go see Three Dog Night, a rock band from the 60's that we grew up dancing to and listening to! What an awesome surprise!
The concert was held at the Desert Duamond Casino here in Tucson in a beautiful summer evening just after a rain storm! 
So excited to go rock out! Funny thing everyone there looked like old peoe, yet they are our peers - that's a real eye opener to our own mortality!

Birthday Week for Jenny

Here is the yummy chicane cake I made for Jenny's 29th birthday 🎈
I sure have fun with this cute lady, Jenny keeps me sane! She is so sweet to always include me in their fun, meals, and shopping! We had a great week for her birthday week!

Old Friends

We got a text from some old friends from Texas Insung and Beverly Lee this week! They have a daughter who lives in Tucson that they were visiting so we got together for lunch. 
When we lived at Ft hood Tx the last time we were in the same ward as the Lee family - they had children close to our kids ages so becoming friends was easy! They lived in the next circle from us also! Their oldest son Kysun became Mistys first serious infatuation! They dated for several months and Misty endeared herself to Sister Lee! 
Brother Lee did well for himself both in the military and in his civilian career! He was a great friend and mentor to Len! It was as if no time had passed in our friendship and it's been 24 years since we saw them last. Insung is retired now and they help take care of grandchildren, he also served 3 times as a bishop like Len!

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Baby Kyla

Throw back to 1995 with this jewel of Grandma and baby Kyla ( who turns 21 this October) seems like just yesterday!

Random fun

Random pics of this weekend, lunch at Costa Vida with the family!
Shoe shopping with Juliet and Papa! 

And Jenny found this awesome princess costume for Juliet and she loves it so much, grandma got her princess shoes to match!

Making bread with the girls

This is the load of bread that Juliet made all by herself! 
Got to spend a lovely morning with these girls making bread. 
Juliet really got into it and she wanted some play dough so we made salt dough! What fun

My man

This sweet man of mine is quite something! He works nights until 1:30 am and then sleeps for a couple hours and gets up at 5:30 to teach early morning seminary. He does it with a smile on his face and a glimmer in his eyes! He then sleeps another hour or so and gets up and spends 2-3 hours preparing his next days lesson. I am amazed at his live for the Lord and his willingness to serve! He is a great example of discipleship!

My Great Grandmother Emma Genivieve Johnson

My mom posted this picture of my great grandmother that she came in possession of just recently. It is one I had never seen and just wanted to share. I had the great opportunity to know My great grandma Johnson, as she was still alive when I was an adolescent. I remember her coming to visit and U.S. Going to visit her. She had a dry hi ore but was full of life, she had a little dog called Queenie Baby that she loved more than us, we thought in those days that was nuts to treat a dog like family, but nowadays everyone treats their dog that way. Funny how times change. I remember grandma a,ways had a story about someone I didn't know about but just to hear her excitement made me happy. She is buried next to grandpa in the cemetery in Joesph Utah.

Making dough

Got to spend the morning with these cute girls. We made 8 loaves of brea ( which we shared with four other people) and then we made play dough for the kids. Juliet made her own loaf of bread and the boys gobbled it up when they got home from school. It was a fun morning, topped off with a bargain find at Goodwill Thrift Store. Family time is the best.

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Sabino Canyon take 2

Heading up Sabino Canyon for our Saturday adventure! Sabino Canyon is on the north side of Tucson in the Catalina Mountains! 
It rained the night before so the train ride up the canyon was especially beautiful! The stream was full to the brim with water running very fast! The train crosses 9 very narrow stone bridges and all of them had water spilling over the top! It was quite something and a little scary to cross!
Jordan was especially animated today and had such a fun time.
Miss Juliet is being a stinker about having herbpicturebtaken today! She looks so cute!

Happy 83rd Dad

My cute dad celebrated his 83rd birthday this week. One of the things dad looks forward to all year is Halloween! At Ace hardware where he still works he plans for weeks what he will dress up like! This year it was Bat Masterson, in the past it was Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp and other western Herod, he just loves it!

After school fun

It's fun to go see the kids after school, today they needed to blow off a little pent up energy so Jenny and I took them to the nearby wash to ride their bikes on the concrete ramp! While we were there Jordan discovered he could write on the concrete using rocks, he said look mom chalk rocks!
Jackson is full of stories and stopped ridin his bike so he could tell us a story!
Juliet is starting to be like the big boys, she loves to ride her Cinderella scooter!

Happy 35th Birthday Cory

August 5, 1980 this fine young man came into our lives. Born in Frankfurt Germany in the American hospital.
Cory has always had a sense of adventure and loves life to the fullest. He went with some friends to the beach this summer and since he didn't have a table he improvised.
A love of all things nautical so it is fitting he is in the U.S. Coast Guard. Cory spent his birthday in Dutch Harbor Alaska waiting to ship out for a 2 1/2 month trip to the Artic Ocean and the North Pole. He will be aboard the ice breaker Healy along with crew and many scientists. He will document the trip with photos and stories. Something Cory is very good at. What a great life he gets to have and we are so proud of him.

Cory's New Adventure

Cory shipped out this morning aboard the Coast Guad Ice Breaker Healy. He will be gone for 2 1/2 months, which puts him back in Alaska somewhere around the middle to end of October. He is going to document through photographs and stories the mission of this ice breaker. He said there were 140 aboard the ship. This includes crew and many scientists. The scientists will study all kinds of things from ice flow, water temperatures, medical, environmental and other studies. It is the very first unaccompanied trip to the Arctic. Usually the ship has escorts and a helicopter but this time they are floating solo. That is a little unnerving, but got to trust they know what they are doing.
This pictur is a picture Cory sent of the "Big Red Beast" he called her, the CG Ice Breaker Healy.
Cory has spent the past three days here at Dutch Harbor Unalaska. He got to see them preparing the ship to go out to sea. The logistics are incredible he said. Food and supplies and I hope some 'ordinance'. Dutch Harbor has a history from World War II as it was the only other place on American soil that was bombed at the time Pearl Harbor in Hawaii was bombed. It has been rebuilt and serves as a major fishing village grossing several billion dollars in fishing revenue mostly haddock and cod.
While Cory was there at Dutch Harbor he was able to take advantage of the water and went kayaking. That boy never wastes an opportunity to have an adventure of some kind. Communication will be spotty at best while he is gone, mostly just email. We eagerly await the photos to start coming. Cory will photograph all aspects of life aboard a Coast Guard Ice Breaker, from stem to stern and the work they are doing aboard. All his work will go through Seattlebefore being posted on the Coast Guard website. Cory has an eye for photography and he is the best there is. He finds the best shots and captures the essence of what is going on around him in the best possible light. So excite...prays and ,I've shipping out with him today and everyday he is gone.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Family fun at Texas Roadhouse


Petes family went to dinner with us to celebrate our anniversary! There was a balloon lady there so the kids got balloons.
Dinner was fun with the fily we were joined by Matt and Erika Jenny's siblings!
Yummy food at Texas Roadhouse!
Jackson got in on the face painting while waiting to be seated!
Juliet also got painted but it was on her arm.

Gilbert Arizona Temple

This cute man and I have been married for 41 years now and it has been an amazing journey together! We have had our ups and downs and good and bad! We have stuck together like glue for all these years! What has been the glue?...
Our eternal marriage! We were sealed not only for this life but forever along with our precious family! We thought it fitting to spend our anniversary at the temple!
The closest temple to us is the Gilbert Temple outside of Phoenix. We went fasting and praying today to get some direction and strength for this next leg of our journey! We reviewed the revelation we were seeking and it was strong and beautiful ! We are supposed to be here in Tucson at this time and we love it here! We are excited for our next chapter to begin- here we go!

Happy 41st Wedding Anniversary

Happy 41st wedding anniversary to us! We spent the day together and had lunch at El Charros in downtown Tucson! The next day we left early for Phoenix and went to the temple!