BYU Art Museum

The "I Spy" creator...Walter Wick has an awesome exhibit at BYU right now! A perfect place for our first adventure of the summer! What a fun time we had! The kids loved it and learned a lot!

In the elevator....going DOWN!

Checking out the cool houses and buildings!

Everyone is fascinated by the exhibit! Walter Wick builds all the sets he uses and then photographs them! Awesome!

We also caught the end of the exhibit by Dan Steinhilber! He uses familiar objects to create art. Wire hangers...with paper on them, balloons, styrofoam peanuts and our very favorite was a huge display of packets of "duck sauce" from Panda Express... very cool! (Who thinks of these things?)

This is a bunch of "expensive" junk! The silver things are the lids to the to-go dishes at Cafe Rio.

Mason and Audrey fighting over grandpa's arms! Sadie is just happy to be here!

Oaks and Preston are ready to go home and get building! Their creative little minds were just a goin'!

Actually these are MY favorite art pieces of the day! Creative and Priceless!

Standing in front of the Haunted town!

Ryan had as much fun as the kids! (He is a BIG kid!)

Here is the crew.... ready to head to the Creamery for lunch!

The art in the back was all created by black and white garbage bags...

Fun Day at the Museum!

Adventure with Grandma!

The big kids went golfing and so Jaxson and Benny came with me on a fun adventure! We found some great frisbee's and went to lunch at the "Quick & Tasty"...for shakes and hotdogs! (Best dang onion rings ever!) Then on to the "Chocolate Bear" for chocolate cinnamon bears...and chocolate marshmallows on a stick! We were all sick...but they still had enough energy to play frisbee with me for EVER! I can hardly move today! Thanks Jax and Benny for such a fun day! I love you so much!

Memorial Day at Bear Lake

Amy and Brett have a fun tradition of Crepe's at their cottage in Bear Lake! Brett is the "chef" and he is Good! They have this cool little "crepe maker" that makes quick work of the task! They had every topping you could imagine and they were DELICIOUS! Thanks for the yummy breakfast! We loved it!

Hal and his little buddies!

Amy and Benson
It is so great to just hang out and relax! We played Wacky 6 for hours! I finally won a round! That dang Hunter and Taylor kicked my butt!

Dinner up the Canyon

Sometimes we just need to escape and head for the mountains! Breakfast or dinner up the canyon is so fun and relaxing! Hot dogs always taste better up there!

Check out these little 2 year olds...and their dirty faces! They won't all three pose long enough to get a pic... thus their backsides!

Yummy Dinner!

Guess who made dinner? Yummy grass and leaves!

Delicious!

Time Out for 2 year olds!

Even up the canyon... two year olds get a "Time Out"!
Good job Mom's!

Never a dull moment!

What would we do without these darling little people? It never fails that soon after they arrive...all the dress-ups come out! Then they head for the tramp! The favorite treat is an Otter Pop! They bring us such joy! I love having them around...and there are still 8 others we get to love too!

Miss Utah Tea Party

It's that guilty pleasure time again! Miss Utah is coming up in June! One of the first events is the Little Miss Tea Party. Each of the contestant chooses a Little Miss to model with her during the evening wear competition. This year Staci our Miss Pleasant Grove chose Sadie to be her LM. Sadie is so excited! She will be performing in the production number and gets to be Staci's buddy all week! She will attend many of the events and be on stage each evening. It will be so fun for her! We went to the tea party last Saturday and as you can see...gloves and hats are a must! Abby came with us too! She is smitten with Staci and also wants to be her little shadow! It was a fun morning! I am really excited this year...because 3 of "my girls" from Pl Grove will be competing. Staci Spinder (Miss Pl Grove).... Kami Alldredge (Miss Weber Co) and Whitney Merrifield (Miss Utah Co). It should be a reallly fun year!

Mckay comes to Red Devil territory!

So much fun when we can get Mckay down in our territory! His last baseball game this year was in Springville and so Julie and Kim and the girls and I got to go! It was so awesome to see him play! He is quite the baseball player! We love you Mckay!

Trey Graduates from Kids Village!

What a handsome graduate! Kids Village is the most amazing school ever! What a great start they give!

Jenny ~ Trey ~ Nate ~Mason

Grandpa, Trey and Grandma

Happy Birthday Mom Marchbanks!

Happy Birthday Mom! We sure love you and appreciate you! Hope you had a great day!

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Life gets away from us sometimes and I didn't post pictures of the last 4 birthday kids! Happy Birthday to Audrey Lynn! She turned 2 on April 1st, Taylor Anne turned 14 on April 15th, Macie turned 2 on April 25th and Mason turned 2 on May 1st!
You are so special to grandpa and I! We are so proud of each of you and love you soooo MUCH! I know that you all had happy birthday's... but Now I feel MUCH BETTER~! LOVE YOU!

Audrey Lynn 2

Macie K 2

Taylor Anne 14 (Isn't she a beauty?)

Mason Hyrum 2

Swim Swim Swim!

Heaven on earth... I am convinced! 2 fun days spent at the pool! Sadie sure did want to go on the water slide. But she couldn't quite muster the courage... after about 20 mins of frustration...Grandpa hoisted her in the slide and gave her a bit of a shove! She was mad for a couple of mins... But soon realized it was FUN! Good job Sadie! YOU DID IT!!!

Hawaiian Temple

This is one of my favorite places on earth! What a beautiful afternoon we spent in Laie at the temple grounds. It was everything I had ever dreamed it would be! What a treat to actully be there!

Waimea Falls!

This was such a fun adventure! A mile in and a mile back. We felt like we were walking through the Garden of Eden! It was so Beautiful! We got to the falls and Hal, Matt and Sadie took a dip! Angie and I "kinda" got in. I didn't want to walk back down wet... I know...what a wimp!! The water was beautiful and refreshing! Hal and Matt swam over to the falls and climbed in behind it and then "dove" out! They they were so proud! I have it on video if I could figure out how to upload it! It was a fun hike and so nice to just be in the quiet and beauty for a little while!

The Dog's Place!

This was Angie's "Have to go see" place in Hawaii! We loved it! She love's the "Dog"! When we were in Vegas one time she ran into Beth (his wife) and was totally star struck! You make me giggle Angie! That is one of the reasons we love you so much!

Matsumoto Shaved Ice

I have heard about Matsumoto Shaved Ice forever! How fun to finally go there! We got there at 5:45 and it closed at 6:00. There was a line clear out the door and around the building! It is in Haleiwa an old surfing town! The town is still small and filled with surf shops! Very fun! Actually the shaved ice was the best bargain in Hawaii! A large one was $2.00 and with ice cream $2.50!


Tasty flavors! We didn't add the "black beans" a bit too local for us!

Matt and Sadie

Hal finishing it up!

Snorkeling With Dolphins!

I can't snorkle... I have claustrophobia! I can? Are you sure? Hmmm? Ok.. I'll try!

Here we are off on an adventure! The promise of swimming with dolphins was enough to get us all up and going at 5:30 AM.

Here we are... ready to go.


We decided to do something a bit out of the ordinary. We heard about "Ko Olina Ocean Adventure" so we thought we would give it a try! It ended up being a real highlight of the trip!
On our way out we quickly spotted a school of dolphins! We were all in AWE! They were so beautiful! They swam right next to the boat and as soon as the "captain" had us all ready.. he dropped us right into the middle of them. The first time a group of Japanese girls started chasing them and they took off....so we tried a couple more times. The last time we were first in the water and the dolphins were all around us. One just "stood" there looking right at me... 4 feet away! It was AWESOME! There was one that swam right up to the boat...he had tons of fishing line all wrapped around him. It was causing him not to be able to keep up with the others and he couldn't eat because of the fishing line wrapped around his mouth. I think he was begging for some help. The photographer on the boat jumped in with some clippers and swam out from the boat. The dolphin came right to him and let him cut all the line off of him. It was amazing to see! Hopefully he is still hanging out with his friends in the bay.
We went to one place called "turtle town" and there were tons of turtles! Hal turned around at one point and there was a huge one staring him right in the face! He loved it! Then we went to a place where there were tons of fish.... every color and kind you could imagine! It was so cool! At one point someone saw a huge whale out a ways from where we were...we went out to try and see if we could see it. Sure enough it surfaced and came up and then surpise...there were two! So awesome to see! It was such a fun day! We saw everything we could have and seeing those dolphins made it a real magic day!

Angie and Sadie


Checking out the turtles

Hal and I on our Ko Olina adventure! Awesome!

Dole Pineapple Plantation

Who knew pineapple grew "up"... not me! The pineapple ice cream was amazing-however the sugar roasted macadamia nuts were to die for! Truly! Wish I had bought a case.

Fumi's Shrimp Farm

Up on the North Shore there are all of these shrimp farms. The enterprising Hawaiian's set up a trailer and some tents and start cooking shrimp for the tourists. We had garlic and butter (no calories) with sticky rice and a salad and pineapple! YUMMY!

Polynesian Cultural Center

One of our favorite days was spent at the PCC - it was an awesome experience! The first person we met as we arrived was a girl from Fiji. She remembered "Sister Maaachbanks". She was in a ward Jen served in! It was so fun to see the different cultures and learn more about the islands. Our favorite show was Kap from Samoa! His show was hilarious! He taught us how to make fire and climb the coconut trees and how to husk a coconut!! We could have watched him all day! The luau was wonderful and we had GREAT seats! Lizzy... we got the coconut drink just for you! It was really fun to try all the different foods... however I stopped at poi...just couldn't quite do the purple goo. The Horizons show at night was amazing! I can't believe Jenny was so blessed to spend 1 1/2 years with these wonderful people! The cultures and traditions are amazing! What a fun day!