All Together in Rexburg, Idaho

A new time in life for me ~ empty nest.

But before the nest emptied, we were altogether in Rexburg.

David and I arrived home from Sydney on September 1st and washed clothes, packed the car and left early Friday morning to drive to Rexburg to get him moved in to his apartment for college. My mom decided to come to Rexburg and see the kids. Since we were going to be all there it called for a family picture taking day at Mesa Falls.

The happy couples

A Forever Family

We moved David in sucessfully to Nauvoo House. He had wonderful decorators to help him with his organizing of his room.

From NZ to Australia

On the streest of Sydney, Australia. Since David wanted to do the LOTR tour in NZ, I said I am not going that far not to step foot in Australia. So we flew to Sydney and stayed in a timeshare there right in the heart of all the tall buildings. We spent the next few days sight-seeing the town.

One of my favorite animals. Adorable!!

These used to be my favorite, but not anymore.

Sitting in Darling Harbour waiting for Toy Story 3, 3D to start in the biggest IMAX theater in the world. It was a perfect day.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge

The famous Opera House. We took a tour and what a beautiful building.

I love this picture. It was a fantastic four days in Sydney.

The famous Bondi Beach

New Zealand - Lord of the Rings Tour

The start of our tour. We lost a day flying to New Zealand, leaving Thursday and arriving Saturday morning. David and I were met at the airport by our guides Julie and Vic James. We checked into our hotel and then headed out to find something to eat. Since it wasn't lunch time yet and nothing else was opened for service, we ended up at Burger King. We walked around a little bit and then headed back to the hotel. We had a nap and then walked around later and got dinner.

Our first stop was Hobbiton and then on to Rotoura where we saw a traditional Mauori dance and dinner. David was elected chief of our tribe and gave a speech to the chief of the Mauori tribe and did some special handshake.

It snowed on us causing the roads to Mt. Doom to close.

Next we were in Wellington where we had breakfast with Daniel Reeve, the calligraphist of the movie and he told us how he made the maps and did the calligraphy. Then we visited Weta Cave where they did some of the special effects.
Not my favorite character!

Then it was on to the place where they made the cloaks for the elves. We entered through a wardrobe closet (Narnia) and ended up here.

We picked up this hitch-hiker, Grandalf as he is known or Derrick. He was an extra in the movie and led us up to the top of Edoras. This was a fun day.

On top of Edoras with the Rohan flag.

Obviously David has a better stance than I do.
To get to Edoras we had to cross 3 streams. This was their winter so the water was extremely cold and one stream was just above our knees with a strong current.

Next we visited Pelennor Fields where they filmed the charge. The owner of the property was an extra as an Orc and had found a spear the the company left behind so we got to play with it.

A movie of the charge

New Zealand is a very beautiful place. This is just one of the many shots of the scenery we took. We ended up taking over 1,000 pictures on the trip.

It was such a special time being able to spend this quality time with David.

David convinced me to do something I had never done before and thought I would never want to do. We went on a helicopter ride in Queenstown. We flew over the Remarkables mountain range landing on top of a snow covered mountain and looked down on the valley.

We also flew through a canyon landing in a river bed. This is where the filmed the Ford of Bruinen. I am sold on helicopter rides. Anyone up for one?

The final fellowship dinner. What a fantastic trip and wonderful new friends, but most of all a great time spent with David and sharing his love for LOTR

Family Fun at Bass Lake

The family spent a week at Worldmark Bass Lake. Danny and Loree Mackay joined us there and we had a ton of fun. We arrived Friday and got settled. On Saturday we rented some kayaks and canoes and paddled around on the lake. Water fights and races galore.


We had plenty of time to relax reading a book, swimming in the pool, or soaking in the hot tub.

Sunday brought us visiting the local ward and after lunch we enjoyed the giant Sequoias in Yosemite National park. Well I should say some us did. My short walk to them turned into a hike in the heat, but overall there were smiles for the pictures.

Monday dawned bright and early and we headed to the lake to rent some jet skis. We rented two and so more of us could be on the lake at the same time. We rode double and single. I didn't go as fast with two people on, but cranked it up a little more when I was riding by myself.

July brings niece's wedding and girls camp

Girls camp at Rucker Lake

Christina was a Level 1 leader and I was a Level 2 leader. We spent the week sleeping outside in the dirt and bugs. We had a wonderful time with the girls and staff. Hope we can do it again next year.

Level 2 hiked about 5 miles to a Blue Lake campground with backpacks and spent the night there.

We hiked without our backpacks to the top of Zion Peak

We had to tie all our trash and food up in the tree so the bears wouldn't get it. This is the result = bear bag.

Juliann marries Andrew

Was privileged to attend my nieces wedding in Glendora. Christina and David accompanied me and we had a great time partying and visiting with family.