Merry Christmas!

Christmas Day 2009

A Visit From Sienna

We love it when Garrett and Kortney go out and leave Sienna with us. We played with toys, ate yummy snacks, and played dress up. It was fun.

Christmas FUN!

PINECONE GOLF, ANYONE?

We had a FUN week end with Darren, Ashley, Mason, and Chase. We went up to Mingus Mountain to hike and roast marshmallows. After the hike Mason found this stick and we played pinecone baseball, followed by 18 holes of golf. What an athlete! Ron ordained Darren a High Priest then after Conference Ashley made an incredible meal for all of us. You are going to want her fruit salad recipe. It's soooooooooo good.

ASHLEY'S FRUIT SALAD (Delish!)
1 small pkg. orange jello
1 small pkg. vanilla cook and serve pudding
3 cups water
Bring to a boil then put into the refrigerator several hours or overnight. Add fresh or canned fruit. Ashley had fresh pineapple, bananas, and strawberries. It was delightful!

Another Awesome All-right Allen Adventure!

These are my fishing buddies. Secret weapon of the trip: crickhopper. It was the bomb-digiest of all lures this time.
I have the funnest brothers and sisters. I am the luckiest sibling alive!

It was hard to get a picture without everyone cracking up laughing. Our smile and laugh muscles are still aching from all the silliness.

We took a walk down to Rainbow Lake, then walked to antique shops, then walked to a quilt shop. The men started bailing out on us for some strange reason. We were sorry to see them go. (wink, wink) By the way, nice hair Marlene...uh...wrong planet!

It was so fun to have each other to chat with, to share stories and jokes with, and just to remember some fond memories together.

Snowflake G.C. was PAR-fect!

SHUCKS!! We're up to our EARS in CORN!

Our FHE project with Alan, Sharlie, Dannen, Jaxon, Garrett, Kortney, Sienna, Ron and Marlene was corny but we are a good team and work well together.

COOL RULES!!!

We escaped the brutal heat and headed for Big Lake with Alan's family. We tried out Ron's new fishing boat. I call it NBOW: "No Bells Or Whistles!" We caught some fish and then saw them stock the lake with 25,000 more trout. It was awesome to eat lunch and have a deer wander through our camp...check it out below...between Alan and Sharlie's face.

Was Lame. Now Tame. Wants to Remain!

Jaxon came over with a surprise! He has a new sparrow that is so sweet and tame. This little bird loves people! He will stay on your shoulder inside or outside. We let him fly from Jax to me outside. One time he went too far and flew on to the peach tree. Jaxon got him out of the tree and brought him back inside the house. He rewarded him with a peach. How "tweet" it is!

JEEPERS! CREEPERS!

Brody, Ashton, and Amanda came to Mesa from Olympia. We came to Mesa to meet them and took the boys to JEEPERS for fun and games. They had so much fun running from one ride or game to another. We "closed the place down" then went for ice cream followed by swimming, then we had a slumber party at the condo. It was a short but very sweet visit.

Tremendous Temple Trip!

I love teaching the Laurels. All 9 of us stayed at the condo, played games, went swimming, ate pizza and made homemade ice cream. The next morning at 5:00 a.m. we went to the temple and did baptisms. Afterward we came back and ate a big breakfast then went shopping for prize categories at a thrift store. It was hilarious to see what crazy outfits they could come up with.

Sienna's Birthday Bash!!

"Where is Heaven? When You're With the Ones You Love, IT'S RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!!"

Wholly Zuchinni Gone Bonkers!!

****One WILD and WONDERFUL WEEK!!!!!*****

Ron and Marlene had a wonderful week. We worked in the temple on Tuesday from 5:00 a.m.to 4:00 p.m. That evening we flew to Portland then drove to Olympia to Brandon, Amanda, Brody, and Ashton's home. We arrived at 12:30 a.m., so we talked awhile and went to bed. The next morning we were so excited to see Brody and Ashton that the minute we heard them stirring in their beds we went to see them so we could start the fun. And FUN it was. Amanda fixed the most amazing meals that we gorged on then we toured and played to our hearts content. As you will see below, we went to Seattle to the Space Needle which was such amazing view of the surrounding city and ocean. We visited the Seattle acquarium. It was incredible to see the immense variety of fish Heavenly Father has created for our viewing pleasure. We ate seafood outside at the water front then took a water taxi to the other side of Seattle. Friday we went to the Farmers market and enjoyed fresh cherries, strawberries, and apples. We enjoyed lunch at the "spray ground" next to the Capital building, bought a toy at the toy store, then went to the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma. We sure had fun. On Saturday Ron and I drove the scenic route back to Portland and enjoyed seeing the Bonneville Dam, Cascade Locks, the fish hatchery, Multnoma Falls, Horse Tail Falls, the Columbia River and breath taking vistas with lush green hills, gorges, rivers, pine trees, wild berries in bloom along the road, and much more. We flew back to Phoenix where we stayed in Mesa so we could attend Portlyn's baptism on Sunday, and the zoo on Monday. Pictures below give some indication as to the wonderful week we had with our loved ones.

Ocean Shores Beach Was Beautiful!

Getting HIGH on the Seattle Space Needle: