Grand Canyon - Spring Break - Part 1

I know, long time no talk to... It's been a nutty month and a half with much to tell and show. When we got home from our spring break adventures, our internet had been cut back (long story - not our fault either) and was running dog slow - at dial-up speed. So, haven't been able to upload ANYTHING. We're now trialing ClearWire and I'm testing it out today with blogging.
I'm going to break our spring break up into a few posts. Feel free to grab a snack before you begin - this could take a while...

We flew to Phoenix on March 25th and drove straight to the Grand Canyon that night. Arrived in Tusayan, AZ ( a few miles from the south rim) about midnight. We spent the next two days seeing the sights - and WOW what sights there were to see! I had NEVER been to the Grand Canyon, even with living in AZ for 4 years. Was fun to see with the kids - Here is our Grand Canyon journey in pictures: Brianna:

Keeping track of Aaron was a trick. When he wasn't trying to LEAN over the rails (if there were even rails) he was found hanging from whatever tree he could find. He had a number of "talking to" moments and by day 2 stayed on the safe side of things better. Hard to keep his adventurous spirit down! As my dad always says, "Hasn't got the sense God gave a goose."

Carly and Aaron:

Kenzie and Carly:

By mid-morning the first day, the clouds rolled in quickly and it started snowing! Yep, that was cool, but VERY VERY cold with the wind that came with it. We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon going through visitors centers, seeing the cool IMAX movie back by the hotel and eating lunch. Here's a sign showing the forecast for the day. Looks like the next day should be much better weather!

By evening, the snow had stopped, still chilly, in the 30's, but we went back out and stopped at a few more view points. We were killing time til sunset.

Carly:

Paul - yes he climbed over there:

Paul braved the cold wind and sub freezing temps to get these amazing pics of the Grand Canyon at sunset. Poor guy, came back with frozen fingers - don't think they completely thawed til sometime during the night.

The smart ones - Brianna, Kenzie and I - stayed in the van and enjoyed the view:

Gone:

Anytime we find pics of clouds on the card, we know who had the camera. Brianna has this love of clouds that's not quite understood - but appreciated:

The next day, Friday, found the skies crystal clear with temps in the upper 50's - just like we like it! Here's Aaron making mom a bit nervous with his proximity to the edge!:

Kenzie's "Me and the Grand Canyon" shot:

I needed one too! I even have my new "GRAND CANYON" sweatshirt on - just in case I forgot where I was.:

Brianna, Aaron, Amy, Carly and Kenzie - cool vantage point:

We found this sign funny AND scary all at the same time: "Use Caution Near the Edge. People Die Here!" Doesn't that just give you warm fuzzies?!?!?!

Hey, look at that! The WHOLE family together! Carly, Amy, Aaron, Kenzie, Brianna and Paul:

Nicely framed Paul - your father would be proud!

Carly and Aaron:

Aaron, Brianna, Kenzie and Carly:

Are you over the Grand Canyon yet? Almost done... Along the rim trail that we followed for 5 miles that second day: (Poor Paul - seems to always be behind the camers - that's usually my spot!)

The end of the rim trail is at Hermits Rest.

Resting at Hermits Rest:

Paul and I decided that we'd like to venture IN TO the Grand Canyon WITHOUT kids one day. He'd like to use his feet to get in and out and I'd like to utilize a helicopter (at least for the coming out portion - we'll see who wins out...) We opted to take the bus back to the beginning of the trail. This concludes our Grand Canyon portion of spring break. On to the Larson's by dinnertime and another blog post.

Crazy Pass Driving and Paul's Parents' Missionary Farewell

The day after Carly's party/Ski Day, we headed OVER the mountains to Selah to be with the Leavens family for the weekend. Paul's parents are heading out on a mission to New England (Vermont, New Hampshire and part of Maine) for two years, this week and were giving their farewell talks on March 8th. They were also getting set apart, as missionaries, after church. Our trip over the pass was quite the adventure - YEAH for 4WD! It was quite slow go from North Bend to almost Ellensburg - chains required that whole time. Here's some pics:

It wouldn't be bad at all if all the DUMB people (who don't know how to drive in the snow) would stay off the roads. There were people without 4WD, who thought they could do it without chains, EVERYWHERE on the sides of the roads - blocking and causing great hazards. These people needed to just stay home. It was pert near a parking lot at a certain point!

We did make it around all the knuckle heads and here's what welcomed us on the other side. Quite the contrast, wouldn't you say? Literally, ahead of us was this and out the back window was dark, yuckiness...

So, half the family was here, our family, Steve's family and Tami's family. They did a great job on their talks and the setting apart as missionaries afterwards was wonderful! Wish I would have know that we were going to have time gathered in the high council room, as a family, and that grandma and grandpa were going to break into storytelling time. Heard some amazing stories for the first time and they both bore their testimonies. Wish I'd had the video camera!

Above, after church trying to corral the troops for photo session time. Below, all grandkids present with Grandma and Grandpa. From top, Kailey, Mackenzie, Brianna, TJ, Rachel, Carly, Aaron, G-ma, Sydney, G-pa and Alise.

Our Family with Grandma and Grandpa:

Just Us:

Dinnertime at Tami's:

It was a quick trip, but so worth it! Before we headed home, Paul's parents handed us a number of things to take home. Among the items was a box that had been packed for us from Great Grandma Leavens' house before they sold it. The box had "for Paul" on it and had been at his parent's house for a number of years. We found a treasure trove inside when we got home and spent family home evening, on Monday, going through the box. In the box were many items, among them being notebooks containing grandma's journals and a number of spiral notebooks she had written her personal history and her mother's history in. WOW! I've now added typing these things up, to my list of family history chores to do. What a fun chore though! Thanks to Great Grandma Leavens for being such the historian and leaving such treasures for us to enjoy for generations to come!

Carly's 12th Birthday and Lots of Snow Skiing This Winter

This beautiful young lady turned 12 on March 4th! Yes, our Carly Jean is 12. We did a little family gathering that evening - she got birthday sorbet and opened family presents. Her friend party was occurring a couple days later.
So, on Friday, March 6th, 8 girls came over to celebrate with Carly. The party went from 3-8. They played many games and made bracelets. This was one of their favorite games. There were 2 hula hoops that were circulating around and around the circle. You had to pass them from person to person without breaking hands - if you did you were out. Also, if the hula hoops caught up to one another, the person they caught up to was out. They did this game for quite a while - I recommend it to anyone trying to kill time at a birthday party...

Carly got her funfetti cake (her favorite) that she decorated herself - she even had all her guests sign the outside edge of the cake (not shown).

A gaggle of girls all in a row:

And while Carly was partying at home, Paul and the other three kids went up to Stevens to Ski - all under the guise of "helping me out" by taking the others away while I had a party. While on the surface this seems like a very kind and selfless thing to do... seriously - we all know the truth! There had just been a ton of snow dumped and this is what they were drooling over:

Paul and the kids had gotten season passes for this year and have been able to go up several times, I think the count's up to 7 or so - so Carly's has gotten quite a few trips in and didn't feel ditched in the slightest by the others going without her on her party day. Kenzie, Brianna and Aaron at the beginning of their day:

Brianna's gotten quite good between last year and this. She can do some black diamonds as long as they're groomed and the lighting is right. She got to go up one Friday afternoon with just her dad. She likes it when she doesn't have to wait for anyone to head up the lift again. They were able to ski hard the whole time and she felt like she got a good workout by the end...
Kenzie's more cautious, but too, has made a lot of improvements over the past couple years. She still holds to a pretty solid snow plow position, but goes quite fast. Kenzie and I used to be about the same speed/level, but this year she's surpassed me - now I'm all alone... sniff, sniff...

Now, we're to Aaron who ended on a different note than the other two this particular day. Everyone was on their 3rd run of the day, Paul was taking a lot of pictures. Aaron's doing his typical "ski with wreckless abandon" style when he ended up going WAY too fast, encounters a field of moguls and couldn't/didn't stop. He has a pretty good crash under the lift. Paul sees it from above and gets to him pretty quick. Aaron's crying and saying that he can't move his arm. People on the lifts above say they'll tell ski patrol when they get off and before long, they show up. Did quite a bit of assessing on the mountain and thought that he had broken his arm. Aaron got to ride down in the toboggan (which he said was "pretty cool"). Once at the first aid building, and got him unbundled, things started looking not so bad. As time went on, Aaron started moving his arm more and more - not broken, but bruised a bit. They put his arm in a sling (a piece of fabric tied around his neck) . After a bit, he was asking Paul if he could go back out and ski. Paul said, "Nope. Once you get a toboggan ride down the hill, you're done for the day." So, Paul spent a few hours with Aaron while the other two skiied. Later, Brianna and Kenzie took turns sitting with Aaron in the lodge, while they other two would ski some runs. Aaron's a lucky kid ... this time! Hopefully he's learned a lesson.
Taken right before things went bad for Aaron:I'm hearing talk of a possible ski trip on Friday after school. What shall I do with a Friday afternoon and evening to myself? Anyone wanna go to dinner and a movie with me?

Cub Scouts - An Education for Mom!

Aaron only had one thing left to do in order to complete his requirements for his Wolf Badge and that was to visit a fire station and learn how to prevent fires. So, I made the arrangements and off we went last Friday to our local Snohomish Fire Station. I was harboring the delusion that they would walk single file, raise their hands with relevant questions and not be the least bit silly - even after my "Boys, we're going to behave in here... speech" before we went in. Just shows my naivite. I'm seriously a bit old for that amount of energy. I know you moms of boys are laughing at me right now. But hey, you wanna know how to deal with a bunch of hormonal girls at Girls' Camp - I'm your girl - my expertise!

Nevertheless, here is the beginning of our tour. Five cub scounts plus a friend, Duncan were in attendance. This formerly horse-drawn fire truck in the background was from the town of Snohomish - 1888 - I found way cooler than the boys did:

Aaron in the seat of a fire engine:
J.J. standing behind our guide, Gabe in the driver's seat, Aaron in passenger's seat, Cameron in the back right above Duncan who's sitting in the backseat, then Kyran on the outside, right.

Inside the aid car where instead of asking questions about cool ambulance stuff, they proceeded to have a best joke contest. I think Aaron's won... ask him sometime what the different between Roast Beef and Pea Soup is...

Aaron trying on smoke mask. They especially liked it when the fireman covered the front part, with his hand, and they could talk like Darth Vader - "Luke, I am your Father!"

Not quite big enough to get a job here yet...

Then, last night was Aaron's first Blue and Gold Banquet. Here is Drew Gidewall and Aaron - buddies since birth:

Carly and Brie Gidewall - they're 4 days apart and as I've always said: "Twins separated before birth by a loving God!"

Me pinning Aaron's Wolf badge on upside down - he has to do a "good turn" to turn it right side up and have me sew (I say sew loosely here. I use the stick on adhesive stuff. This mom doesn't sew!) it on:

Aaron and Kyran both received their Wolf badges this evening. Aaron also got 1 gold and 3 silver arrow points to boot.

And next month is the Pinewood Derby! Our first and boy are Aaron and Paul excited. I think Paul's been dreaming of this day ever since Aaron was born. Big, big racing plans... I just shake my head, sigh and take a couple Advil...

Brianna's going to BYU and Happy Valentines Day to ME!

Late on Feb. 12th, Brianna got the official word from BYU that she was accepted. Here are the many faces of a thrilled girl getting ready to spread her wings and FLY!

Here is a slightly annoyed Kenzie, who is realizing her buddy, Brianna, is leaving her in 6 short months.
Kenzie helping me model my pretty Valentine roses from Paul:

Me poised on my throne in front of the computer saying "Hey" to my peeps on Facebook:
Seriously - our home is going to seem strange and lacking when Brianna leaves...