4th of July

Here are some highlights of our celebration on the 4th at the Mecham Ranch.  We had a parade, backyard barbeque and the works.  It was a fun day and the weather was very nice.

Camping, Fishing, at Chepeta

 Our grandsons, Logan and Ethan came for a visit.  Grandpa and I decided to take them camping and fishing in the High Uintas.  The weather was a bit breezy, but we did catch some fish in the Chepeta area.

 Here I am at lake Elbow with a lucky one that did not get away.

 Ethan on Rusty.

 Logan with his catch at lake Moccasin.

Tuacahn 2012

 This brings back memories of doing hair in the 60's.  It was time consuming and painful.  I'm so glad things are easier and faster these days.  The girls begged to have me do this to their hair.  Make mine poofy grandma they would say. 

 On the second night we attended the musical Hairspray.  Here are the girls all dressed up for this show.  People would walk by and say oh how adorable, and I'd say, they are all mine.  So blessed.

 Of course eating is a highlight.  Here we are at the Pizza Factory...YUM!

 On the second day we relax in the pool, basking in the hot St. George Sun.  Grandma Zola, Jan, Katrina, Texie, Kayla, Mandy, Heidi, Whitney and kids join us too.  Quite a bunch. 

This year our Tuacahn adventure was a little bigger than last.  We were privileged to have Stacie and Rylee from Florida along with Erin, Ainsley and Capri from Sunset, join Angel and Emily from Las Vegas and Stacy, Anna, Megan, Ellie and I from Roosevelt.  The girls all dressed up for the first show Aladdin.  After the show they pose for a picture with Aladdin, Jasmine and Genie. 

Greatest Blessings

Ok, ok...I know I haven't published anything on the blog for a long time and then here I go three in a row.  Well actually, I'm figuring out how to upload photos a little better and I'm not so frustrated with the whole thing.  They keep changing things on this old lady and it keeps me hoppin to stay up. 
Today I got my newest grand daughter, Ellie's photo in the mail and put it in the frame to add her to my greatest blessings wall.  So I took a photo shot of how it looks now with 4 X 4, 16 grandkids in all.  I'm one proud grandma and so blessed. 

Summertime Woes

With nice warm weather comes more hard work on our little farm.  The wheel seal needed replacing so Mark dug into the project.  Several trips to town for parts and special tools and a lot of hard frustrating work, I'm happy to say the tractor is back in business.  It was a hard tricky job.  But finally we dug out the handy dandy step that Adam had built to give us a little more leverage or height and yeah it all went back together.  So now we will start cutting hay. 

Wind Repair

 With all the bad wind we have been experiencing it caused some of our metal on the eve to come off.  So we proceeded to put it back on before birds get in and other bad things happen.  Well having a two story home comes with its challenges, such as having a tall enough ladder.  Mark had set his screws on the window ledge for handy reaching and then we decided we had to do something different.  Anna and Megan are in the bedroom tossing down the screws to Mark.  They were good help running to get things and handing items to Mark and even taking the photos for me when I had to hold the ladder.
  We started with the ladder on the patio step, but that would not work.  So we got innovative and used the truck along with the step box that Adam had built for Grandma Zola to use getting into our Yukon.  Even at that it was a precarious ordeal getting the job done.  I'm just thankful we are all safe. 

Vacation to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji Feb. 17 - March 3, 2012

I'm posting some highlights of our trip with Jan and Gary to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
We left on Friday, Feb. 17.  Our first scare was in SL when we discovered we had no visas.  But when we got to LA, Quantas Air came to our rescue and whew! we were on our way.  We flew in this very big, very nice plane over 13 hours.

 We had dreamed for years of going to the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia.  Here we are living our dream.  We had a great day viewing all kinds of fish, the beautiful reef and experiencing snorkeling. 

 We stayed in Cairns, Queensland.  On the second day we went to Tjapuka, where we experienced native Australia's culture.  Lucky Mark and Patsy were chosen to dance with the natives.  Here you see the Didgeridoo demonstration.  We also tried our hand at boomerang and spear throwing. 

We then rode on the skyrail up to the village of Kuranda.  After lunch we visited the koalas, kangaroos, and exotic birds. 

From Kuranda to Cairns we rode on this older train down the mountain. 

                                Next stop Ackuland, New Zealand.
In New Zealand, we rented a car.  Mark was our designated driver and he did a good job.  It was challenging to drive on the left side of the road and sitting on the right side of the car to do it.  We had some comical experiences with the driving, but thankfully we stayed safe.  It also stretched our communication skills with each other and patience.  It was a good growing experience.  

One of our planned stops was the Hamilton Temple.  This was a beautiful area with a special spirit about it.  Jan and Gary were greeted with a surprise when we arrived, connecting with a missionary couple from their old ward in Roy.  They told us of some good spots to visit and we found that to be true.  Our first place was this black sand beach near Raglan.

We stayed in Rotorua.  We hiked along a beautiful river, called Te Waihou. This looks like a place in paradise.

 In the evening we experienced a Hangi at the Mitai Maori Village.  We were treated to a native Maori experience and yummie meal of pit cooked lamb and pork.
                                            The next day we flew from the North island to the South.
                We stayed overnight in Chirstchurch.  We noticed the damage from the earthquake they
had a year previous.  Some streets were stilled blocked off and many buildings were being renovated.

Jan and I visited these beautiful Botanic Gardens.  The next day we boarded theTranzalpine train traveling over the mountains to Greymouth. 

We then traveled by rental car to Franz Josef.  Along the way we noticed these beautiful grey-blue rivers.  We stopped to view them upclose and the next thing I knew we were flying in a helicopter over the glaciers and snow covered peaks.  This was not planned, but turned out to be quite a thrill for all of us. 

Our next destination was Queenstown.  This is a beautiful city build around a lake on steep hillsides.  We stayed in a fancy condo right on the lake. 

We journeyed by bus out to the Milford Sound and then went on a cruise in the rain to see things up close.

                            We packed up again and flew to Fiji, where we experienced a new culture of friendly welcoming people of the South Pacific.  We were very fortunate to go on a snorkeling expedition with the Oolala crew, taking us on a boat to our own private island. 

Our last great experience was the Sigatoka River Safari.  We traveled around the island by car, van and bus to the Sigatoka river where we boarded jet boats with a guide.  We jetted up the river seeing the sights of how the village people were living.  We had to honor to visit one village and participate in their rituals and ceremonies. 

Jan and I dancing with the natives.

It seemed that everywhere we went we would drive by a LDS chapel.  Comforting.  Here is the one in Fiji nearby our lodging place.