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!  

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.  

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!"

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 ; )

Christmas 2011

David and Zina Cox Family 2011

David is still teaching (31 years), but this will probably be his last year. Still loves teaching, but wants to do it his way and not the way someone else wants him to do it. He loved teaching the 11-year old Scouts, and got so he didn’t mind leading the choir, but the Singles Stake asked him to be the Executive Secretary in the Lehi 1^st Singles Ward, so that is where he is serving in Church now. He is trying to decide how he will keep busy once he retires. There are several options open to him and he is busy weighing the options.

Zina still substitute teaches and did a 6-week long term in March/April for a 5^th grade (once again working closely with David was a lot of fun!) and for a 2^nd Grade class that ended just before Thanksgiving (also at David’s school). The last 4 weeks, she has been catching up on all the things she put off while teaching full time. On Sunday, I get to teach the Primary Sharing Time once a month and play the piano in Relief Society. Taking the horses out for a spin and giving children rides is still a hobby she loves.

Kadie is handling things alone in Utah while Tony works in construction for the oil fields near Dickenson, North Dakota. They plan to sell their house in American Fork and move as soon as they can get the money together to get a house there. Rental property is very expensive and few and far between. Daniel (13) is growing fast – like 5 or 6 inches in the last year! He is doing an online school. Elisabeth (9) is in the 4^th grade, takes piano lessons and likes to sing. Annalisa (1) has had a rough year with illness. She spent several days in the hospital just before Thanksgiving and had a lot of tests taken to try and figure out why she gets fevers. Still no answers, but they are going to document everything and see what turns up.

Ammon and Tiffany are still in Lehi, but that may change if he gets a job in the accounting field that takes them away (he wants to do auditing). He is currently working at the Social Security Administration. Tiffany is expecting our 12^th grandchild in late March. She is in the Primary Presidency of her Ward. Preston (6) is doing well in school and loves Star Wars and Legos. Micah (3) is also into Star Wars and anything that involves guns or fighting with lasers. He is always trying to keep up with his older brother and cousins when they get to play together. Nathan (1 ½) loves horses, so whenever he comes to Grandma’s house, he has to be taken out to see the eee-heees!! Nothing is sweeter than a hug from Nathan!

Seth and Carolyn had a job change late last year and the drive from Springville to Draper was a long hour through construction traffic for most of the way, so they bought a house in Lehi and tried to rent out their house in Springville, but that hasn’t worked out very well, so they are trying to do a short sale on it. Two house payments is no fun! Seth is 1^st Counselor in the Elder’s Quorum and Carolyn is Choir Director. Jacob (6) is doing well in school and is very talented on the piano and singing. He is also a big fan of Legos. Evelyn (4) enjoys preschool and drawing and singing. I got to pick her up from Preschool one day and she had a carrot in her mouth and took it out long enough to quote me the poem they had memorized about a snowman and a rabbit! So cute! Megan (3) is a busy little girl that likes princesses (as does her older sister) and watching movies at Grandma’s. Justin (7 months) was born in May and makes a wonderful addition to the family with his sweetness and happy smile.

Rachel will be finishing her second Bachelor’s Degree in Music in April and then hopes to find a job somewhere in the field of teaching music or drama. She was chosen to compose a song for the Utah Valley University’s production of Othello and it was well received. She will have another of her compositions performed at the Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration at UVU in January. She had her Senior Recital this month and did a wonderful job. We love hearing her sing. She moved to Orem at the beginning of the school year to room with two of her friends and has enjoyed being there. We do miss her at home though.

Caleb and Bethany have moved into the basement of our home (I knew there was a reason to put a kitchenette down there!) while he finishes his last semester of school at UVU in Psychology. Then it will be off to graduate school in Ohio. Bethany is 8 months pregnant and they hope that their little girl gets here before Caleb starts up his last semester of school in January. We are excited for our 11^th grandchild to come and for the chance to get to know her well before they take her off to parts unknown.

Evan has enjoyed living in Provo this last year. He was called as the Elder’s Quorum President in his Student Ward. He works in the Student Transfer and Admissions Office at BYU and also does concessions at sporting and other events at the school. He took the big step of buying his first car this summer. His major has changed to Information Systems instead of accounting.

Alisa is living at home with us. She worked as a nanny for a local family for the summer. Imagine getting paid to take kids to play at the water park, zoo, shopping, amusement park, and anywhere else they went for entertainment and be able do it all yourself at no cost to you! She has decided to start classes at UVU in January, going into Elementary Education and take some photography classes also. She has started a blog to show off some of her photography. Look up http://sugarrushphotos.blogspot.com/ to see what she has done.

We enjoyed a wonderful Petersen Family Reunion in July in Southern Utah in July. It was such a wonderful time to see most everyone in the family. Even Mom and Dad at ages 91 and 95 made the trip!

Life always has its challenges, but we find that through our faith in Jesus Christ, we can overcome them and be stronger for them. At this time of year when we celebrate His birth, we hope that you are well and that you find joy as we do.