Saturday, September 8, 2012

ALASKA!!!!

 David and I took a trip of a lifetime last week to Alaska!  The weather was amazing to us, only rained on one day while we were still on the ship.  The rest was sunny and fairly warm.  We had prepared for lots of rain and cold, but didn't have to use all the gear we had brought.  I know we just lucked out, but I am so grateful that we did!

We left Seattle on August 26.  I will add here that cruising is a whole new experience and there were a lot of things that I didn't know that I do now.  Not sure if we will cruise again, still trying to decide on that one, but we did have a great time.  The long days on the ship where hard, but the informative talks on the places we were going and things we were going to see that made the time on board worth it.  And the fun people that we met.
We hiked in Juneau to the Mendenhall Glacier.  The glacier has receded in the last 40 years so that you can see the exposed rock that shows just above my head.  
Close-up of the Mendenhall Glacier
We rode the tram up to the top of  Mount Roberts in Juneau.  That is our cruise ship below.  It climbs 1800 feet in a matter of 5 minutes.  Yes, my ears were popping.
On our hike on Mount Roberts in Juneau, this plant was new to David and I.  The leaves were huge and when David went to lift up a leaf,  he was poked by a spike.  We learned it was Devil's Club and it can cause infections.  Fortunately, it didn't break David's skin and he was okay.
This is part of the hike that we took around the top of Mount Roberts. We did the 1/2 mile hike in about 10 minutes, stopping to look at some plants and the view.  

When we were in Ketchikan, we went on a crabbing expedition.    David was the one to pull up the crab cage up from 90 feet down.  That must have made him so hungry that he was ready to eat one without cooking it!  (j/k)  After we came back from the crab hunt, we had a crab feast of dungeness crab!  Fresh crab is the BEST!!

In Sitka, we had the fun experience of sea kayaking!  That is our cruise ship in back of us.  It was a fun day with the sun shining so warmly.  Great day in Sitka! 

One of the many eagles that we saw in each port.  This one was in Sitka.  They are such beautiful animals.

Another part of our Sitka experience was hiking and biking on the island.   We biked to the Thimbleberry  trail and  then hiked from there.

A waterfall on the Thimbleberry Trail.

This is a "petrified" whale at a park that is called (of all things)  "Whale Park."   David was determined to stay on as he rode!

About mid tide in the George Strait where we went to catch dungeness crab.

The crab cage that David pulled up.  They used a red snapper and a salmon head as bait to catch them.  Interesting day.
We hunted Humpback Whales in Juneau

You will never know how hard it was to catch this shot!  With the bouncing of the boat and the  difficulty of  keeping my camera trained on the spot that I was sure the whale would come up next, I almost gave up getting it.  Success!

One of the unbelievable sunsets on the ocean.

The sun just turned this whole evening silver!
This is the glacier we saw in Tracy Arm.  The only day that we had rain and it was cold.  The rest of the time was really warm for Alaska!

In Juneau, we toured a mine and then they taught us to pan for gold!  David got pretty good at it, but I got more than he did.  He had about $1 worth and I got $3!  

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Minnesota and Hiking

We took a quick trip to Minnesota to see my family there.  We stopped at David's brother's house in Nebraska first, then Mom and Dad's and Brent's in Minnesota, then Kadie's house in North Dakota and then home.  
Here is Evan with Grandma and Grandpa Petersen.
This is Merilee, Adell, my Mom and I.  Had a fun visit.
 Annalisa was being cute and putting on someone's sunglasses while we were at Kadie's house.


David and I decided that during this summer we were going to do a hike each week.  We started with a hike to Battle Creek Falls in Pleasant Grove, UT.  Then we had a hike at Willow Flats Springs in Idaho.  We next decided to see Stewart Falls in Provo Canyon, UT.  It was a beautiful hike that was mostly shady in the morning.  Rachel tagged along with us.
My wonderful, handsome David on the trail.



Just one of the spectacular views of the mountains that we saw.
Then we decided to take on a hike to what we call "Corner Canyon," but the books officially call it "Dry Creek Canyon."  It is a pretty steep hike, mostly up and then mostly down for 5.5 miles.  We hadn't looked it up before we left, but after we did, we found out that is was considered a pretty strenuous hike, not meant for beginners.  It was a great accomplishment for me!
This is what we were hiking to.  Horsetail Falls!  Beautiful!  It was worth the hike!


Evan and his friend, Amber made the hike with us.  This is the view out to the valley from where we were.

Yes, I made it to the waterfalls! But, David didn't get it in the picture like I asked...

David at the falls.

It was just so gorgeous up there.  Not a hike for beginners though.  We started out just before 8 and got down just after noon.  






Saturday, June 30, 2012

Summer Fun

We have had a lot of fun so far this summer and it is only the end of June!!  First, we took all the kids  to the Cub River Guest Ranch Lodge  near Preston, Idaho for a little reunion.  We rode horses, swam and hiked and played LOTS of games and just had a good time all together again.


Annalisa and Nathan in a hugging moment.  It was so cute to capture this candid moment when they just hugged.  Kissing cousins, you might say.

David playing with Annalisa and Nathan.  Alisa was in on the action also.

Alisa, Evan, Tiffany and me on horses.

Tiffany's horse was a lunch-mouth, so we lagged behind the others.

Rachel having fun with Evelyn, Megan and Micah.

We had a hike up to Willow Flat Springs, where it comes right out of the mountain.  Here are Ammon, Preston, Megan and Micah with various people we don't know in the background.

Caleb and Bethany took an adventure on the ATV with Aleeyah under the hat.  Evan hiked up to the Springs with her and she loved the whole hike!  Yea for future hikes with Aleeyah!

This is all of us together.  It is so hard to get 25 people to all look great in a shot, but we did pretty well.  On the left end is Seth's family, then Kadie's, then David and I with Rachel, Evan and Alisa, then Caleb's family and then Ammon's.  Tiffany was our photographer and did a great job arranging such a large group.  Alisa's friend, Harley, was there also to take a few more shots and make sure the camera went off after Tiffany got in.

And here are David and I with 12 of our favorite people in the whole world, our grandchildren!  Little Nathan who is in back of David was just having a great time being on Grandpa's back.  They were all getting pretty tired and so I bribed them with the promise of a taffy if they all smiled and looked at the camera.  You should have seen all the people in back of the camera trying to get the babies to smile and look at them.  As Dash states in The Incredibles, "I love my family!"

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Catching Up

This is Ahnalee, born in March to Ammon and Tiffany.  It was so fun to add a little girl to their family of three boys.  They all love her.  This is on her blessing day with the dress made by Great Grandma Cox. 

David and I had the adventure of going with the Sons of the Utah Pioneers group on an excursion to see where the pioneers had traveled from Fort Bridger Wyoming to the Salt Lake Valley.  This is a monument at Big Mountain, one of the last stopping places before they entered the valley. 

These are some of the ruts from the wagons left here over 150 years ago.  They can still very much be seen when they were cut so deeply.  It was rather steep here and just thinking about trying to get a wagon full of supplies up and down these mountains is amazing to think on.  David and I both had ancestors that traveled on this trail and made these deep ruts.  It was humbling to think back on all they suffered to get here.

David and I went on the first hike of the summer to Battle Creek Falls.  It wasn't a long hike, just rather steep, but worth the hike to see it and then get cooled off in the spray.
Aleeyah made her appearance a few weeks early in December to proud parents Caleb and Bethany.  She is wearing the blessing dress made by Great Grandma Cox.  It has been such fun to have Caleb and Bethany living with us to watch this sweet little girl grow.  We are sad that they are moving to Ohio, so far from us, but happy they are moving on with their lives and Caleb is going to get his Master's Degree there.



We wanted to have a family dinner in one of our favorite places to go, West Canyon, before Caleb and Bethany left.  The request was for my Dutch Oven BBQ Ribs, Chicken and then strawberry-rhubarb cobbler.  All of it was so delicious- should have taken the photo of the cobbler before it was all gone...
And, here is everyone enjoying the time there.  Evan in the foreground... eating... something he likes to do ; )