Wet & Wild in the Desert

Today we decided since it was so hot that we needed to get some water out for the kids to play in. Papa brought over his pool and Zach & Madison brought their pool from home. We set the pools up on the porch at the guest house and let the kids have at it.

Rebecca and Zach were the 1st out with Papa and the 1st to discover that the water was COLD! So instead of playing in the pools they decided to put the water on the dirt and make mud.

The cousins all had such a great time making mud castles, having mud fights, spraying each other with water, making mud pies and washing the mud off in the pools. They spent hours out there playing and having a great time.

Ammon wanted to get something out of the van so he ran over to it barefooted and stepped on a piece of cactus. We tried to get it out, but all we did was brake it off. Ammon the cactus magnet had
returned!

When it time came for lunch we had it catered on the golf cart from Nani & Papa's kitchen next door!
Eating didn't last long before the kids were back in the mud.

The big pool got all full of yucky muddy water, so Papa took the plug out to empty in. The water caused a flash flood at the boys castle. As everyone was watching the flood Zach quietly took the plug and put it back in the hole. Everyone was surprised when the water stopped until we heard a little laugh from Zach and saw what he had done!

The girls had the steps covered in mud cakes and the boys had made 2 neat castles built before they decided to have a battle and throw mud at each others castles to knock them down. Zach was a champion mud thrower!



Zach & Rebecca were covered in mud and needed a bath, so they took one together. Rebecca hasn't taken a bath with anyone in years, so this was great fun for her. They had a fun time getting washed together and then they got silly together sticking their tongues out. When they got out they left a big brown dirt ring in the tub!

Later in the afternoon the sky started to get dark and thick rain clouds rolled in. Before we knew it, we were in the middle of a HUGE thunder and lightening and pouring rain storm. Aunt Lisa ran in the rain with the girls. Rebecca liked it so much she ran 2 times. They were pretty wet after their run!

We had plans of going swimming down the street this afternoon, but the rain changed the plans for us. Instead the kids played ping pong, The Honey Bee tree game, watched movies and hung out until it was dinner time.

Down the road in Shelter Valley they had a flash flood come through. The mud was 3 feet high on each side of the road. We saw snow plows out pushing the mud over!

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.

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.