Leap Day

Leap Day only comes around every four years, so we couldn't let the day pass without doing something.


First we learned why we have leap year. Every year is 365 1/4 days. There are 6 extra hours in a year, so every 4 years we have an extra day to off set those yearly extra 6 hours. They kids thought it was pretty funny that if we didn't add in the extra day every 4 years, then Christmas would end up in July.


The kids made "leap" frogs to celebrate the day.

A welcome back to Iowa

This morning we got to the airport so early to make sure we had enough time to check in since we weren't able to check in last night on line. When we got to the ticket counter we found out that we had never been fulled booked on our flights for today. Thankfully we were able to be booked without any problems or any extra money.
Both our planes were really small with only around 50 seats on each. Because they were so small we had to leave our bags plane side. I didn't mind this since our bags were so heavy I wasn't sure I would be able to put them in the overhead compartment!
I was getting a cold, so the landings were almost unbearable on my ears.
We landed in Iowa in a slushy snowstorm. The kids were so excited to see us. Rebecca ran straight to Corrine and gave her a huge hug.
When we got home Corrine got to unwrap her presents from us.

Then life went from vacation to back to real life because we needed to leave to take the boys to Taekwondo.
The rest of the day we had rain and snow. We went from being in the 70's and wearing shorts, so 30 degrees and snow. The snow was so beautiful covering everything and bring such a quiet peacefulness.

Heading home 1st try

This morning our flight left at noon, so we left the house by 8. We went and gave Grandma Jenson and Uncle David one last hug goodbye then headed for the airport.
We got to our gate to hear over the intercom that our flight had been delayed by 3 hours because of weather in Denver. I got on the phone and found out that if we left on our original flight with the delay that when we got to Denver we'd be stuck there overnight because we would have missed our connecting flight to Iowa. If we choose to do that, then they were going to fly us to Chicago and then Iowa, adding an additional flight and more time on.
I decided it was best of we stayed in Palm Springs tonight rather then getting stuck in Denver. So we booked a flight out the next morning at 6am. We called Papa and told him what was going on. They came and picked us up and we went to Grandma Jenson's house.
Glen and his family were also going to stay the night there. Trent really liked Corrine and he followed us everywhere. Then Chuck and his family showed up. After dinner my parents headed home.
All of us went over to the Chuck's hotel so the kids could swim. It was amazing to be swimming outside in February. Corrine and Emelia had a great time playing together today.
We joked that we weren't going to say goodbye anymore, since we had said goodbye to Grandma many times, and then we'd be back for more time.

Saying goodbye

This morning we got up early so we could get to the funeral on time. The funeral was held at Grandma and Grandpa's church building in Indio, CA.
All of his 6 kids, 17 grandchildren, 16 out of 21 great grandchildren were there. Just Johann and 3 of our kids and my sister Lisa's husband Kent and their 3 kids were not able to be there.
The service was really nice. Papa gave the eulogy, and Paul and Adam sang a song in Spanish. After the service the casket was placed in the hearse and left. Then we all went in and had a lunch. Corrine went off and played with the cousins.
After lunch Corrine went with Laurie and her family back to their house. Lisa and I went to Grandma Jenson's for a while. We stayed for a few hours talking with family. When we left we drove through Hemet where our brother Jake and his family lives. We decided to stop by to see their house. Zach was supper excited to show us his room, dogs and toys. After Lisa and I went to Panera's for dinner. We finally made it to Laurie's 4 hours after they did. Corrine was starting to wonder if I was ever going to make it there!
That night the sisters stayed up talking way too late, but it was so much fun.
Tuesday morning we woke up and sang Happy Birthday to Corrine. We then all got ready to go the burial. We met with all my siblings and their families at the Barbecue Pit for lunch.
When we got to the cemetery we spent a little time in the gathering room, then headed out to the cemetery. We found Grandma and Grandpa Guthrie's grave sites. Today would have been Grandma Guthrie's 100th birthday.
We went to the duck pond and played there for a while. Corrine and Zach were having fun chasing the ducks and watching the turtles.
Since we had the funeral yesterday, today was just the dedication of the grave and burial. We had a family prayer in the gathering room. Then the casket was closed and carried to a hearse. The sons, grandsons and even a great grandson walked with their hands on the car around the cemetery.
Since Grandpa was in the Air Force so he had a military funeral. There were 2 Air Force members there with us. They folded the flag, played Taps and gave the flag to Grandma.
Grandma choose to do a full burial, so right after the ceremony a tractor and dump truck showed up.
I had never seen a full burial being done before, so this was new to me and very interesting to watch.
The men who buried his casket were so careful and kind. They did their job with all of us watching and they did it silently. They would give a hand signal of where to back up to, or when to stop pouring the dirt, but they never spoke to each other. It was a very peaceful time.
It was a very comforting experience to know for sure that Grandpa's body was where it was suppose to be. The casket was closed with us there, then it was walked to the grave site and buried with all of us watching.
Corrine and Aleigha ran off to another section of the cemetery to check out the tall headstones. I was watching them and I'd see them running between the headstones. When they came back over they told me that they had been straightening the flowers on the headstones.
After the burial all the family went to Phillipe's Italian restaurant in Little Italy downtown. This was a restaurant that Grandma and Grandpa liked to go to. It was a party atmosphere with all of us there. We ate, talked, laughed, hugged and took some pictures.
My cousin Amy told them it was Corrine's birthday so they brought her a birthday treat and we all sang to her. She had around 50 people singing to her!
We said goodbye and headed back to Nani and Papa's house in the desert.

Extending our trip

This morning (Thursday) I awoke to the sound of a phone ringing. It was 12:30 am. Nani answered it and I knew what the call was about. Grandpa Jenson returned back to Heaven February 16th, 2012 at 12:04 am. He was surrounded by his wife of 61 years and 5 of his 6 children.
And then plans changed.
We headed back up to Palm Springs as was the plan for the day. My oldest sister Lisa flew in at 10 this morning to also see grandpa one last time. All my siblings and thier kids that were there went to Grandma Jenson's house to be with her. She is one loved lady. She had people coming left and right with flowers, food, and hugs.
My parents and my siblings and Corrine and I left to go have lunch. We went to El Polo Loco. Can I say YUM again!!! We took us the entre side of the restuarant! It was so much fun.







After lunch we drove to a park so we would take some picture, let the kids play and to celebrate Corrine's birthday early.
I set my camera onto self timer and we took a bunch of pictures. I'd never had the chance to be the photographer like this before and it was so much fun!

Then this afternoon we made it offical, we're staying now until Weds so we can go to both the funeral and the burial. Tongiht we headed back to Nani and Papa's house.

Friday we needed to go back to Desert Book to pick up the covers for the funeral program. To get there we drove 2 1/2 hours one way! We stopped at In-N-Out for lunch. Then we went to Kohls where Corrine got a brand new outfit. We didn't bring enough and nice enough clothes for the funeral.
Then we headed back to La Jolla where Nani got the programs and Lisa and I had the best time ever trying on dresses at Ross. Corrine was our amazing helper bringing out the ones that didn't fit and bringing others from our cart for us to try on. We walked out of there with a new dress, shoes and sunglasses for me and new shoes for Corrine to complete her outfit.
Then we headed home which took another 2 1/2 hours. We decided to take Highway 8 all the way out to Ocatillo since it would be straighter. It was super dark on the drive so we couldn't see the landscape, but since it was dark we could see the lights in Mexico. We were so close to the border. After getting off the freeway we had to go on a very dark empty road. Part way home we had to stop at the Border Patrol check. The angents were so tough looking and they brought thier dog right up to the car. It freaked Corrine out really bad. It was funny though because the guy looked in the car asked what our citizenship was, then asked "where are you going?" 4 ladies driving in the desert at night wasn't something they probably saw very often.

Saturday we headed back to San Diego so we could go to Grandma Guthrie's 100th birthday tribute at Anthony's Seafood Grotto. This is a restuarant that Grandma and Grandpa Guthrie loved coming to. Uncle Gary put together a skit, my cousin David sang a song and then Corrine was given a train plate that belonged to Grandma Guthrie because Corrine and Grandma Guthrie share a birthday. We sat outside by the pond. There was a grass area for the kids to run around on and ducks for them to feed.









Lisa then introduced us to Ikea. WOW, WOW and WOW! I had never been into an Ikea store before and it was HUGE and somewhat overwhelming. They had some pretty neat things, but on a Saturday afternoon in San Diego it was too crowded for me.
We then made the 2 1/2 hours drive home. This time we went up the windy road to Julian. When we got to the top of the mountain we were driving in the clouds. It was beautiful.

Sunday was a day of rest. We only drove to church and back which was only 1 1/2 hours total. We then got to play around at my parents property. They have 25 acres of land. It is so peaceful and beautiful there. I had fun taking pictures and Corrine had fun just playing.

San Diego

Monday we left the desert and headed to the San Diego Safari Park. Growing up it was called The Wild Animal Park, and that is what I still and will always call it.
We met up with Laurie and her boys and got to see their new Expedition. Their 4th boy is getting ready to make his appearance and she is not a minivan mom! Mandy, Zach and Madison also met up with us.
With 6 kids in tow we weren't the fastest moving group. We went to the petting zoo, then headed for the elephants. We then took a ride on the new touring van (it used to be a 50 minute monorail ride and now it's a 25 minute van ride) around the HUGE open animal area.
It started lightly raining while we were on the tour.
When we got back the kids started playing in the stroller parking area. Zach was growling and the other kids were screaming and running away. They had such a great time playing this game.



We then went to see the cheetah run. As we stood there waiting for it to start it started down pouring on us. They ran the dog and then the cheetah and ended it right then.
We decided since we were all soggy and wet at this point to head home.

Tuesday we all went to the Barbecue Pit for lunch. On our way there we stopped by Grandma & Grandpa's old house. I have so many wonderful memories at their old house. Then we drove by the house I lived in until I was 4. I don't remember alot about the house, but I do remember the HUGE (at least to a small child) pine tree out front, which is no longer there.

Mandy, Zach, Madison, Nani and us went to the Zoo. We had a nice time looking at the animals. Corrine kept asking if we could ride the Skyfari. I wasn't so excited to ride it, but I put on a brave face for her and said lets do it. We split up into 2 buckets. Corrine and I had Zach. He was holding her hand excited for the ride until he saw his mom leaving in the bucket before us. He sat next to Corrine holding onto her crying for half the ride. We got a small smile out of him when the bucket shook when it went over a support beam(which is the highest and scariest part of the whole ride across the park).




Wednesday we went to the San Diego Natural History Museum with Laurie and her 2 youngest boys. We watched a 3D movie about sharks and walked around the museum.

We then met up with Uncle Gary (Nani's oldest brother) for lunch at Pick Up Sticks in La Jolla. From our seats in the restaurant we could see the San Diego Temple. It was awesome to eat your lunch and gaze at such a beautiful temple. After lunch we went to Deseret Book, and after over an hour in there we came out to another downpour. So much for going to the beach today!


I learned from being the driver for days that I can drive in crazy busy rush hour traffic in a different vehicle in the rain and survive!

California Bound

This morning Corrine and I got up WAY TOO EARLY for this night owl to make it to the Cedar Rapids airport to catch our 6am flight.
Leaving Iowa at 6 am meant that we got to Palm Spring CA at 9 am. We had our entire day to play in warm sunny CA!
We went straight from the airport to my grandparents house since they were the main reason we were there. My grandpa was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer which had spread to his liver on January 4th and we wanted to go see him one last time.
When we got to the house we gave my grandma a huge hug then went in to see grandpa. He was asleep, but woke right up. He saw Corrine and said "you've got your pink boots on!" We talked with grandma for a while. Corrine sat on the cough with Nani looking at a Where's Waldo book. Corrine started giggling really hard. When we asked her why she said that "grandma can't find Waldo!" Corrine knew right where he was.
I talked with grandpa about when I was a kid and we'd have arm hair pulling contests with each other because when I was a little girl I had ALOT of hair on my arm just below my elbow, just like Ammon does now.
We gave them a hug and went to El Polo Loco for lunch. A restaurant I'd been craving and so wanting to go eat at. And I was not disappointment in any way!
We went back to their house and meet their neighbor. She gave us a tour of her beautiful yard. She has the neatest cactus tree in her front patio area. We didn't go back in to see grandpa because his nurse was there.

Since grandpa wasn't doing so well we decided it was best if we didn't hang around too long, so we headed to Nani & Papa's house in "their desert" as they call it.
Little did we know that we had just given our last hugs, kisses and said our last earthly goodbyes to Grandpa Jenson that morning.

At Nani & Papa's we met their 4 chickens. Corrine was instantly in love with them and wanted to play with them. One of the black ones likes to be petted. When you touch her she squats down and lowers her head so you can pet her. Corrine thought that was awesome! Papa let them out and Corrine watched them and then herded them back in their cage all by herself.
That night even with ice cream for desert being mentioned Corrine feel asleep on the couch. It had been a VERY early morning, and she was wiped out!



Saturday we spent the day meeting their friends in the valley and playing with the chickens. In the afternoon we hiked up to the rock house that I had heard so much about. It's amazing how you can't even see it until you are almost right at it. Once I've seen it, it's easier to pick out from a distance now.



The maker and age of the house are unknown. You can tell that it had a roof and wooden beams at one point, but you can see the evidence of a fire that burned that out. Outside there are spots in the rocks where they would grind their grain for meals.
Corrine got her 1st driving lesson from Papa on their golf cart. She thought he was joking (so did I at first). She picked up how hard to push on the gas and how to move the wheel just slightly.
We also got to shot Papa's gun. Corrine didn't want to shoot it, but she did pose for a picture with it. I shot it a few times and ended up hitting the can one time.



Sunday we went to their branch for church. It takes 45 minutes up a very windy mountain rode. Halfway up Corrine said her head hurt, then her stomach started to feel funny. She made it 1 block before the church when carsickness overcame her. Luckily we were there an hour early so she could settle her stomach. She was excited to go to primary with the 3 other kids there that day. Usually the primary has 1 girl. I went to Young Women's where they have 1 girl also. On the way back down the hill, Corrine again got carsick. We weren't so sure how all the driving we were going to do this week was going to sit with her.

Rebecca

Rebecca is my shopping companion. Today at Kohl's we found this sweet knit hat that was BEGGING to be Rebecca's. It's so stinkin cute on her. She was excited as could be to show it off for me. Then we decided we needed some mom and me pictures. We have smiling face pictures, and then we got silly.





This week we were at Barnes and Nobles and we found these really neat scissors. They are held and used differently then regular scissors which means that she can already use them. And use them she has. She cuts every and anything you let her. Within minutes she can have a pile of little pieces of paper she's cut and she's asking for more. She has the cutest concentration face ever! Since she was born we knew she was double jointed in her fingers and when she uses her scissors you can see it so well. Since these do have a functioning blade you would think she might cut herself, but she hasn't. I think the way the end is made, if her finger did get in the way, it would push it out before it cut into her. We just have to make sure that when she has them we know what she's cutting, but with her and her scissors anything is hers to cut!






The girls had fun with the stickers tonight. Rebecca was so excited to show me what they had done.


Rebecca and I were at the grocery store shopping. I said we need to get bagels. She started asking if she could get a "pink bagel". I told her there weren't any pink bagels, but she kept asking for one. Finally it dawned on me what she was asking for a "pink donut"! I usually don't let the kids get one, but today we both got one. She came home and ate the pink frosting off her donut leaving the dough behind, all while smiling and being excited to have gotten her "pink bagel"!


I know Heavenly Father sent this sweet little girl to us at the tail end of our family on purpose! She has so much love to give and such a bright smile. She is absolutely curious about everything in life and she is a little sponge on super absorption right now!!

Dance Marathon 18

It's hard to believe that this was our families 6th year going to Dance Marathon and the magic and excitement for it hasn't wavered!

Rebecca getting a ride on dad's shoulders. She was really cute up there. She thought it was funny to cover up his eyes when he was walking!


Nicole-she's our DM Rep. This is our 2nd year with her and we all love her. She made the girls cute bows for their hair. This is her last year with DM. We'll be sad to say goodbye to her.


Rebecca LOVES the pool full of balls. She went to go play in it, but some older boys were throwing the balls and being way too wild for the little ones, so we left and went to a calmer area. Later when the area had calmed down we went over to play, but all the balls were now under the tables. Rebecca and I cleaned them up. She would crawl under the chairs, through the table legs and around people legs to get the balls. She was determined to get every single ball back into the pool. Then she climbed in and layed down in the middle of them!


This is Simeon's pillowcase. Nicole did an awesome job on it! She knew Simeon likes the How to Train Your Dragon books, so she put Night Fury on it. We have all the pillowcases from each year.


Corrine getting her groove on with some students in the main ballroom.



Corrine got Sarah as a new student teacher a few weeks back, and she found out that she is a Moral Captain. Corrine was super excited to meet up with her.


This is the group of students that we met with. We told them a little bit about Simeon and why we love DM. Then Rebecca wanted to play Duck, Duck, Goose. It was a wild and fun game!


The theme for the family room this year was Nickelodeon. The girls did a little Karaoke, jumped in the bounce house (until Herkey came near it and Rebecca FREAKED OUT!) After that she was so scared of him she wouldn't be in the same room without crying. We finally got her to be ok with being in the ballroom with him, if he was at the front and she was at the back!


Ammon really wanted to meet the football players. He waited in line by himself so patiently for over 20 minutes. Then he walked down and had each sign his paper which took another 20 minutes.


I think we were ALL on a permanent sugar high from all the cotton candy we consumed! Then when the family roomed closed and the cotton candy ended, the kids got Fun dips!


Dad & Rebecca hanging out in jail. The kids thought this was the "jail" where the dancers caught sitting down were sent. I think it was just a fun cage that Rebecca liked to hang out in. I think it may have felt like a safe place away from all the action in the ballroom.


Our Family after being at DM for 28 hours. We did get some sleep last night and Rebecca napped this afternoon.


Another year of topping last years amount raised. Each year we have been a part of DM they have raised over a Million dollars, and each year it's gone up. It's amazing how many wonderful people out there who donate.



Collecting the glow sticks after it's all said and done. The kids love to see how many they can hold. We let them keep 1 or 2, but the rest go in the trash. It's a good way to help clean up:)


The Dancing in Our Heart Quilt. This year our friend Eli Horn was added a few weeks back. It's hard to watch the video of the Dancing in Our Hearts kids, because each year new faces we know get added.


We seriously LOVE Dance Marathon!! We're already looking forward to next year!