North to Alaska

We spent last week aboard the Island Princess cruise ship sailing the inland passage of Alaska.
In a word, it was AMAZING. Seriously, the BEST time I've had in a good long time.

We rested
We learned
We were entertained
We met some new people
We had many great chats with one another
We explored the ship including three ports of call
We spent two days floating among glaciers which dwarfed our ship
We were waited on hand and foot by the staff of the ship
(which would have included massage of our hands
and feet at the spa for a significant price)
And of course, we ate, and ate
(and ate)
And we celebrated our 30 years as husband and wife
and enjoyed every minute we had together.

We gained a new appreciation for the land to the north, the 49th state to join the union. Alaskans refer to where we live as "the lower 48." I really had no concept of how BIG Alaska really was before this trip. It's HUGE. Oh, and I've been around longer than Alaska has been a state. Seriously. She just turned 50 this year. Wow, I'm older than Alaskan dirt. Check out this video to see what I'm talking about. It's wild. It's awe inspiring. It's unique in every way possible...there are glaciers the size of some of the lower 48 states. Amazing, don't you think? Oh, and just to warn you, I'm going to be stuck on Alaskan posts for awhile.

Carol, Matt, Taylor & Tanner

About 10 days ago, my younger sister Carol and three of her four children came to town for a few days of fun. We had many great adventures, going from one end of the spectrum in activities to the other. They attended church meetings at the MTC with us on Sunday and afterward, we took a leisurely walk around the Provo temple. The summer flowers were at their height of beauty and the day was perfect in every way. The kids were so good to indulge their Aunt Vonnie in taking way more pictures than necessary, but hey, they don't come to visit every day.




















How about those future missionaries!

The kids went swimming at our pool for over three hours one evening while Carol, Rick and I went to see the new movie Julie & Julia. Everyone enjoyed their respective activities for the evening.















We visited the home of Adam and Sydney and Syd showed us around their beautiful home. She has the decorating touch and her home is so inviting (even if the cake seen below is fake...hahaha.)














Of course no visit to town would be complete with out a visit to Rick's office. We took more great pictures on site, but unfortunately, they can't be shown here.










We also went to Cabela's for a tour of that amazing store. Even if you aren't an outdoors man or woman, you will still be amazed by the collection of stuff animals they have in the store...hundreds of "trophy takes" aka...dead animals that rival the Bean Life Science Museum at BYU.


Here's where we started out. Seven Peaks water park. Matt and Tanner were very adventurous, but Carol, Taylor and I stuck to the tame stuff. A good wet time was had by all until we got chased out by lightening strikes in the area. We're so glad Carol and her family could come to town to visit us. Carol was driving their NEW car and we are so excited for them to have some new, reliable wheels and we hope they will come and see us again soon. We love you all.

Great times with Claire

Make a Smilebox slideshow

He's back

It's a bird... It's a plane...

It's Angel Moroni!

I previously reported on his hard luck here.

BUT,

He's back and better than ever!!! He's shiny and new and ready for the upcoming dedication.

He's reinforced with extra protection and like the article states "He did his job — he's the end of the line." Hooray for the Angel Moroni!!

Check out the story here.

Hey, I want to hug the Angel Moroni!

Summertime favorites

Denise Millett's salad
Spinach - Pasta - Chicken Salad
1/2 box bow tie pasta - cook, drain
1 bag fresh spinach
1 cup grape tomatoes
1/2 cup crasins
1/2 cup pine nuts
a Fuji apple cut in small pieces
1/2 cut feta cheese
2-3 chopped up chicken breasts (already cooked)
(These amounts can be adjusted to suit your taste and it can be made without the chicken. It's a complete meal otherwise!)

Basil dressing
put these ingredients in the blender, blend and let set awhile. Blend again right before serving.
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1/2 c. olive oil
4 T. fresh basil (in a pinch I have used freeze dried basil and it works pretty well. Fresh is best)
2 T. brown sugar
2 garlic cloves or 1 T. bottled chopped garlic
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper

It's a taste sensation!



































Homemade ice cream in minutes
(it takes about 20 minutes to make this ice cream from start to finish! Of course you need the ice cream machine to make it happen.)

1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, to taste
This batch makes enough for about six servings.

Sometimes I like to add a crushed Butterfinger candy bar or other crushed fruit. Yum, Yum!
What are your summertime favorites? Please share them here or email them to me.