Category: Life in general

Whew! That was a long absence. I have gotten the sense that more than a few of you have spent your days twitching because of the withdrawals. I sort of picture it as what would happen to my dear Mother should she have to go without Diet Coke for too long. Just way too much suffering for any human being to be able to endure.

We had a great time up in Utah. We rented the condo of a friend of a sister of a friend of a friend’s. They are in Law School (I think?) and are in California for the summer doing the intern thing. So we had a nice place to setup camp for the nearly 4 weeks we were in Pleasant Grove. 3 bedrooms, 2 (and 1/2!) bathrooms, with a small, but very functional trampoline out back. We only hope that the place survived. We think it did.

We went to Park City, up the canyon for picnics (and saw a moose!), to sliding rock up north of Alpine, and all sorts of fun places. We spent some good time with Julie’s parents, who seem to be doing well. I got beat handily by my sister in law in racquetball. Of course I played with some friends here in AZ on Tuesday night and got beat handily there as well. Maybe I’m not as good as I think I am.

I also got reacquainted with office life. There’s so much potential material there for The Office that it’s really quite depressing. But it was good to walk around and pretend to be relevant again. Now I will go back and crawl in my hole as I conquer the world from afar.

On the way back home, we had a nice stop over in Bryce Canyon for a Jenkins family reunion. As per the norm, I was the life of the party. I think. Bryce Canyon is an incredible place. I highly recommend it. There’s nothing like it on earth, I’d imagine. I imagine that because only about 30% of the people there spoke English as their native tongue. So apparently the falling dollar is helping these folks come over here for a song. And speaking of high, I didn’t know that the elevation was so high at Bryce. The resort/hotel place we stayed at must have been about 7800 feet. We drove up to a spot at the south end of the canyon that was 9100 feet! Wow. It was strange to wear a sweater and jeans on Saturday night at the rodeo (I’ll tell you later) and then be melting in the pool Sunday night in AZ.

We have lots of pictures to share, whether you like it or not. We’ll get them organized and shared as soon as we can. Lots happening. Julie is finally looking like she’s pregnant and is just lovely. The girls start school on August 11. So things are a-happening.

More later. Not 30+ days later. Maybe just a few.

Unfortunately we’re not really beach bums. We’re just bums who happened to get to the beach recently. Me, I was able to make it to some beaches in Havasupai. The whole family was able to take in the cool breezes of Oceanside.

Unfortunately (again) I didn’t take a camera to Havasupai. Actually, that’s not true. Michael and I bought one of those crappy disposable 35mm cameras in the once-booming town of Seligman. I’m sure it was happening in its heyday, but it’s hurting in today’s day. I figure that we probably paid $.50/shot. Plus I haven’t even gone down to get them developed. Who knows where I can even get them developed these days. The long and short of it is that there are no pictures. But here’s the run-down for those of you who care:

We got up to the rim just as it was getting dark. Luckily I checked the weather the day before (Saturday) at about 11:30pm. The temperature was 33 degrees. So my struggle over whether or not I needed to take a sleeping bag was quickly resolved. Michael and I got all of our sleeping gear out of our packs on Sunday night for sleeping. The other 5 guys that went with us decided to pull up a chair or something in the van they all came in. Apparently it was so cold that they ended up turning the thing on every couple of hours to try and thaw out. Needless to say, they were ready to go at the first hint of sunlight. I almost threw something at the guy who woke me up, but at least I was well rested.

After the long hike down into the village, we all decided to look into the easiest way out of the canyon a few days later. I had read that the helicopter doesn’t run on Wednesdays, which, of course, was the day we planned to hike out. We unfortunately were able to verify this rumor. So the next order of business was to see about getting some horses to carry our stuff out. We were eventually able to sort that out.

Havasupai is truly a beautiful place. It’s like the garden of eden in the middle of a desert. The falls are spectacular, if a bit cold at the end of May. We did lots of hiking and I did lots of sleeping. I got into my bag on Monday night at around 7pm and didn’t wake up until about 7am on Tuesday. Surprisingly, I got a reputation of being a social reject. That’s certainly the first time I’ve been labeled as such.

Michael had to get out of Dodge on Tuesday to get back to some work. One of the other guys had to go as well, so they trekked out and rode back to civilization in the luxury that is my Hyundai. We headed out the next day. I don’t think I will ever walk out of that canyon again. 3 times is enough. Plus the helicopter ride is only about twice as much as the donkeys. And you get there 100 times faster.

Last week we were lucky enough to be able to go to Oceanside again. This is about the 4th or 5th time we’ve been there, and it’s always great. Oceanside is pretty low-key compared to most of Southern California, and that’s how we like it. This time we invited/persuaded/manipulated our friends into coming with us. I’m sure that they wonder how they got stuck with a bunch like us, but we had a great time.

Beach:

Legoland:

Terrorist at Legoland:

On the way to San Diego:

Old Town:

Bus/Boat thing:

Our lively company:

Dinner at Seaport Village:

More beach:

Checking out the scenery at the beach:

More beach:

Etc, etc, etc.

Unfortunately it all had to come to an end too soon (for us at least). Summer in Phoenix finally decided to come, just as we returned home. Hopefully the furnace will burn out soon. Or at least hopefully the temperature will moderate. This global warming thing is killing me. I’m ready for the next ice age.

LOTS more pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/midder/

(more on that later)

This has been an interesting week here in AZ. Sunday we had our first 100 degree day of the year. Then on Monday we promptly had our first 110 degree day of the year. Tuesday our pool started boiling. Apparently Friday is supposed to be down in the 70s. I’ll let you decide which of those sounds the most reasonable for the desert in late May.

Our summer holiday begins this weekend as the girls finish their school year. They’ve both had really wonderful years, all things considered. We really couldn’t have asked for better teachers. Both were just perfect for what each of them needed. Now we’ll see what we can do to keep the girls’ interest through the summer. Surprise’s first movie theater opened today, so I think that summer movies might be in the works.

We’ve been very proud of Gwenyth and how she’s become so independent. Swimming lessons helped her build a sense of empowerment, especially as it relates to fashion. She’ll come down the stairs most days with her favorite garb on. It’s always particularly exciting when she dresses herself for swimming.

In other news, Julie is pregnant w/ #5. And . . .

I’m sure that Gwenyth will help out with the masculine stuff like sports:

Here were yesterday’s predictions/comments before today’s ultrasound:

We are registered at The Sports Authority.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/midder/

It’s nice to have Julie home again. Though we survived without her, it’s not something that I want to get used to anytime soon. Sean and Jana were nice enough to take Lucy for a few days, which she thoroughly enjoyed. I’m not sure if Sean and Jana can say the same.

We made it out to Joe’s Farm Grill with Sean, Jana, Michael, and Alison. It was a great place. You should go there if you’re ever in Gilbert. You know, the town where the LDS church is building a temple but the hosers there don’t need one. After dinner, we headed out to Mikey and Ali’s place so that the girls could veg on XBox and I could veg on whatever else. We had a great time, even if we set them back a week with their fun projects. How’d staining the door go, Ali? 🙂

Abigail and Grace were excited to do something for their mother, even if she wasn’t going to be around for Mother’s Day. When Julie got home, she found these. A sweet note from Grace:

 

A poem that Abigail wrote:

They were very proud and I think that Julie was touched as well.

After Julie got home (the flight was only delayed an hour this time — things at US Airways are looking up, apparently), the routine began again. Things are really starting to wind down with school, and up with summer.

Lucy finished her preschool this past week. Abby and Grace had their recital today, and will be finished with school next week. I head out to Havasupai with Michael and some other guys. Then a week after we get home, we’re heading out to Oceanside for some beach time. We’re looking forward to that one. After a beautiful spring, my thermometer on my web browser says that it will be 109 on Monday. Ouch! But if our first 100 degree day doesn’t happen until May 18, I’ll take that.

Of course the heat means lots of swimming. We seem to have a steady flow of girls coming over to swim each day. The doorbell rings around 4:15, like clockwork. Being the demons that we are, we make the girls do their chores before they can play. So the conversation at the door starts with “How long till your chores are done?” Instead of “Can you play?” Evil, I tell you.

We got some new family pictures taken. The whole Elcock clan was around for this one. Lucy rules in this picture.