Taekwondo Ammon

Ammon and Simeon started a Taekwondo class through the Iowa City Recreation program a month ago and they both LOVED it right away. Heck I loved it to. Master Smith talked about thanking parents, making thier beds, self control, all while teaching them taekwondo moves.
Ammon was so into the class that he wanted to continue to take them. He decided that he would rather do taekwondo then play baseball.
Last Saturday I got up the nerve to go into Master Choe's and find out about signing Ammon up. When we walked in Master Choe came right out and he was drawn to Ammon. He talked with us about his classes and let us watch a Black belt class for a little bit. He was very nice and really liked Ammon and wanted him to come back at noon for the children's class. We had plans for that day, so we came back today.
Ammon went into class, then Master Choe brought him out and got him a uniform. Ammon was over the moon excited to have a real Taekwondo uniform.

Well he loved the class and wanted to keep coming. So this week he took 4 classes at Master Choe's and finished his last class with Master Smith.

The nice thing about Master Choe's is that you can make the classes work into your schedule. We pay a set price each month and then Ammon can go to as many classes as he wants. He could go to 2 classes every day if he wants to. He needs to go to at least 24 classes in 12 weeks to promote.


The next promotion is on May 5th and he is hoping to have learned enough to get his yellow belt.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Today was Dr. Seuss's 108th birthday so we celebrated with Cat in the Hat jello cups, green eggs and ham and One fish, Two fish, Red fish, Blue fish goldfish.
I made green eggs and ham for Corrine, Ammon and Rebecca (Simeon had science club at the school this morning). Corrine was brave and tried it, but the other 2 decided it wasn't for them.


The jello cups were raspberry jello with frozen raspberries and Ready whip. The kids really liked having this treat for breakfast!



Rebecca loved her One Fish, Two Fish Red Fish, Blue Fish and she called them that all day as she carried the bag around eating them.

Ammon did some Dr. Seuss worksheets at school today too.

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.