JUNE 2018

JUNE went fast!  And it was SOOOO busy!

You can see we have started on our house.  We got to help lay out the lines for digging before we left on our trip so that was fun.








Stakes and measuring tape and all that good stuff!

Our builder sent us this photo while we were gone...

And our neighbor across the street sent this one.

We took this when we got home.

Visited an old preschooler, Nixon today with his cute little sister Blake, who will come in another year.

Waiting for Trax in SLC early AM on our way to the airport headed to New Orleans.








And, I totally forgot to wish Scott a HAPPY BIRTHDAY until we were at the airport!  So lame!
I blame it on the early wake-up.

This little guy was hopping around the lobby of our hotel that night...welcome to Louisiana!

The next AM we got up and went to hike the Barataria Preserve south of New Orleans.  The water was so beautiful with it's carpet of green!

See all the little cone like things coming up out of the swamp?  Those are Cypress tree knees...sort of an extension of the roots reaching up to get more air since they live in water.



The Spanish moss you see hanging from the trees is harvested and they used to use it in cushions.  It is not attached to the trees, just hangs on them.

We saw a few of these guys hanging around in the water near our walkway and at first it was really scary!  This one was pretty big, and we were maybe 2 feet above water level on a bridge near him.  The first one we saw was smaller, but only like 12 inches below our boardwalk.

We visited an interesting plantation called WHITNEY PLANTATION that focused on the lives of the slaves instead of the glory of the plantation days.


Each guest got a lanyard with a picture of a clay replica designed to represent one of the children who lived on the plantation.  They were the ones alive in the early 1900's when reporters came to get their stories
It was really an interested take on the life of those times.

Another day we took a ferry out to SHIP ISLAND along the gulf coast.

This is home to Fort Massachusetts which was build by confederate soldiers, but then taken over by the North and used to house confederate prisoners.

Very interesting tour of the fort when we arrived on the island with all the beach tourists.

Really, this is a very remote island off the coast.  People are ferried over and back twice a day to use the long beach there.



Before it was time for us to catch our ferry back, this storm blew in...

We spent a day at AUDUBON ZOO in New Orleans.  It was a very well done zoo with interesting displays and animals.  Of course, we spent the whole time saying "Oh, our grandkids would love this!"

We also spent an afternoon at AUDUBON AQUARIUM right by our hotel on the waterfront in New Orleans.
Here again, a well done facility that we really enjoyed.

We spent another afternoon at the AUDUBON INSECTARIUM also very near our hotel.  It too was very well thought out and was so interesting!

We had to stay an extra long time in the butterfly room because Scott had a stowaway!

He took lots of great photos of the beautiful butterflies.

And, of course we had to try the famous BEIGNETS of New Orleans.  Although I was not expecting them to be what I call a SCONE.

The reason for our visit to New Orleans was my meetings representing Provo Power Board at annual American Public Power Association meetings.

We were "wined and dined" (well, they would try to WINE us) by sponsors that we use in our Utah Municipal Power Association.  So, each lunch and dinner was at a different local restaurant and very very nice!

Meanwhile, Braden and McKenna had visited Austin and Laura and family up in Duvall!  They had a great time!

Shortly after we got back to Utah, we were joined by Jenna and her kiddos.  Breanna and Elliot had been with them in NJ for the week and all flew back together!

We had a family dinner up in SLC with Carole and Aaron and his family and Lori.

This is Carole with all the grandkids that were there.

And Carole with Klay, Bennett and Carter.

I got to take the boys to the MUSEUM OF CURIOSITY one afternoon while Jenna got a haircut.

Klay had a lot of fun with the ball roller.

Bennett "hung in there" like a SLOTH for an incredible amount of time!
At 100 seconds, he finally dropped!  He went longer than all the bigger boys we saw there!

Carter loved the MAGIC ROOM where his head magically disappeared!!!

And in one room, Bennett created a molecule using the beads and sticks provided!  He really worked on it a long time!

And THIS is what happened very quickly on our way home!
Quietest ride home this trip!

The next day we met up with Amanda and her kiddos for a morning at the DINOSAUR MUSEUM!

Here they are looking at the scientist cleaning off parts of a dino skeleton.

And, of course they love the water and sand table where they can play with the toy dinosaurs!
It is really a great place to take the kids!







And, they love to pretend that it is pretty scary too.







































Well, it is sort of scary, but this did not phase the little ones, all staring down a huge shark mouth!!

One morning we got up and went FISHING over at Footprinters Park.

All the boys were pretty patient, and all got lots of worms nibbled off by hungry fish.

KLAY was the one to reel in the only catch of the day, a cute little perch.  He was so excited!!

We went to fish Provo River to try more fishing there, but Bennett and Klay quickly thought throwing rocks in the river was more fun, and then these ducks came up hopeful to be fed.

We just had to go for shave ice at our favorite place  BAHAMA BUCKS!!  Yum!!












Well, technically this was July, but on the first, we were released from serving at the MTC after 4 years there.
Bittersweet time for us as we love the missionaries and the people we serve with so much!  But we also realize that it is time to do something else.

We were happy to have Jenna and her family and Braden and McKenna join us that day at the MTC!

Sunday night we had our dear friends, the Thurbers, over for dinner with their daughters Annaliah and Nikki.  They were up visiting from AZ waiting for a grandchild to be born.

And, Monday morning I was joined in spin class by these two!!

Now, ON TO REUNION!!