Eagle Eye Erik

I'll share the rest of the story -- or blog title -- a bit later. However, it sums up our past week with the Stephenson family. We had a delightful time going to Janae and Jeff's home to spend a few days with them. We always enjoy spending time with our family and since Erik and Claire still had one week of "off track" time left, why not spend some of it with them and their family!

The park near their home has a great little hill for sledding. While Megan took a nap, Louise and I went with Claire and Erik to test our endurance. No one could match flyboy Erik as he zoomed off of the jump. Actually, no one but Erik went off of the jump. Louise and I did not want to go to the InstaCare center with dislocated arms, legs, ... you get the point. However, that did not stop us from having fun on the sleds. As you can see, Louise is completely enjoying herself with the kids.

After sledding we went on a hike in the mountains south west of Daybreak with Janae, Megan and the rest of the crew. We spotted three eagles (Golden, a young Bald, and a mature Bald eagle) on the way to the trail head. Janae said they often see wild turkeys on the trail/road but not this time. Instead we were met with a lady, her two year old son, and two bouncing dogs. It was fun visiting with them -- well, with the lady, and petting her dogs.

We left for Cache Valley mid-morning on Monday (18 January 2010) and headed for Hardware Ranch up Blacksmith Fork canyon by Hyrum. We were only at about mile 3 of 17 when Erik said "there is a Bald eagle!". We missed it but he was sure he saw it in a tree by the river. Following our visit to the elk, it was still by the river so we turned around and I got proof of Eagle Eye Erik.

We had fun at Hardware Ranch. They weather was around 30F so it wasn't too cold. They had four wagons going so we did not have to wait for a ride and our driver was laid back and took his time when we were out in the 400+ elk. When Claire saw the drivers 4" long handlebar moustache, she said "look at his moustache!" It was quite impressive and made him look official.

After the ride, we went to the visitors center where they have pelts of a bunch of animals (Claire seemed to like the beaver best -- it was very soft). I couldn't get Megan to sit next to the cougar but Claire spread her wings but didn't come close to the wingspan of the golden eagle.

On Tuesday while Claire and Erik were at school with Louise, Megan and grandpa needed to shovel some snow. We stopped for a break and made a little snowman. We got to the stage where the body was made and Megan said we needed to give him a face. I got some chocolate chips and on went the face. However, when I started to shovel more snow Megan decided he didn't need a face after all and the chips went into her mouth! Janae later said Megan loves chocolate chips -- yep, she is right.

I swim with a fellow that has eleven goats and uses them for hauling his back packing supplies to the Windrivers, etc. The big guys can haul 40-60 pounds each and will eat most anything so they just tag along for the hike. He said he had just purchased two new week old goats in Cedar City so I got an OK for us to visit them at feeding time. Claire and Erik fed them a bottle and everyone was able to join them in their new home.

It was a great week. As usual, the children were a delight to be with and reflected the good upbringing they are receiving from two very good parents. We plan on doing it again during their Spring break. We thank all of our children and their many efforts to have eternal marriages and to be successful parents.

Martin & Louise 2009 Christmas

I feel that a fitting beginning to this photo essay of Christmas 2009 must begin with Louise's school program. For me, the management of crowd control of twenty six little bodies twice a day is an amazing feat but she teaches them a bunch every day! What a lady!
The little forest was moving into place on the stage in the first photo and the second is a mini-program in her room after the joint program. It is little wonder that the parents love her.

On to Mazatlan:
We cheated by flying there but someone has to keep the airlines in business and it might as well be us. I know the 32 hour drive builds character but we will get ours somewhere else. We so appreciated the invitation to join the Stephensons at the annual hangout. The 20+ RVs and 5th wheel units were all on the upper part of the property as was the four unit villa where we and the Stephensons stayed. As you move towards the ocean there is a mini-forest, an entertainment area then a beautiful beach. It was soothing to go to bed and hear the waves roll in. The ocean was only about 100 yards from our front door.

The temperature had a high of around 80F so it wasn't a hot time on the beach but it was pleasant. It was even more pleasant when we realized it was 80F warmer than Hyde Park! It was great to say, "Let's see, what should we do in the next hour? Go swimming/boogie boarding, read on the beach, take a barefoot walk down the beach, or eat something?" Not earth breaking decisions but sure fun for a week. For the most part, it was just our group that populated the beach (other than the jewelry/fruit/sunglass vendors) so we felt like we had our own beach. By the way, Louise got a "real" pair of Oakley sunglasses -- it had "the label so they must be real."

We drove about thirty miles north one day to a tide pool beach. We chased little crabs around the rocks, watched pelicans and other sea birds drive for fish and enjoyed a lunch on the beach. I found the petroglyphs fascinating -- note the fashion model on the photo. They (the petroglyphs, not fashion models) were scattered along the beach on numerous rocks. I don't know the dating of the engraving.

The Stephensons were wonderful hosts. We were able to visit, play games, and just have fun with Janae, Jeff, the children, and their extended family and friends (there were 120+ of them!). Erik and Claire stayed in our 2nd bedroom each night. They woke up about 6 a.m., same as us, then about 6:15 Jeff would bring Megan up, and about 6:20 Jeff's sisters children (about the same ages as Erik etc.) would join us from their apartment that was next to our's. It was fun having the crew have breakfast with us each day. After a couple of days Kim's children were calling us grandma and grandpa.

We celebrated Christmas with a program that morning with Scott Stephenson (Jeff's dad) doing a reading that included pictures to illustrate the Luke text. Erik led the music. The traditional group buffet was delicious and we enjoyed the company of six missionaries.

I went deep sea fishing with four of the family group. The boat left the pier at 6:30 am and we eventually went thirty miles into the ocean. Yes, the group (no I didn't pull one in but I was OK with that) caught two mahi mahi. The blue is a male and the yellow a female. They were about fifteen pounds each. In the eight hours that we were on the ocean we saw two whales (one about 100 yrs out as it dove -- what a tail! and another one about 1/4 mile away as it came completely out of the water), a sea turtle then later a hammerhead shark about 15 ft from the boat, then a 6-8 ft Marlin come completely out of the water about 50 yds from us. It usually costs $300-$350 for the boat but one of the guys listened to a time share pitch so we got it for $0. I spent $30 on license and tip so it was a good value.

On the flight from Phoenix to Mazatlan, Louise and I had a delightful visit with a 18 yr old girl that was with her family on vacation. She had a wonderful spirit about her so we visited on the two hour flight about her hobbies (included riding Friesian horses) but most of it was about the gospel. A great start to the vacation. While at our RV park, the owner came with some of his riding buddies and practiced on their Friesains. We wondered if we gave them too much attention because they stayed four hours! Check out the video -- you listen to that music for 1+ minute and decide if you would like it after four hours. Not this guy. The horses and their riders were delightful and fun to be around. Jeff thought that the dancing and music was invented by a bunch of guys drinking beer and having a good time. Perhaps. However, Megan thought the music was great because she was jumping up and down and dancing with the horses.



We, of course, had to go to town and do some shopping. We first looked up to churro man. The Stephensons had been going to him for years when they noticed one year that he was missing. They found out that a car had hit and ruined his stand as well as injuring him with the hot oil. They collected money from their group, found him, and gave him enough money to start a new stand. Neat things come from neat people. By the way, the hot fresh churros were worth finding him!

We also enjoyed a daily sampling from the fruit drink stands. The escamocha was far and away our favorite. Take a bunch of fresh fruit (papaya, mango, apple, pineapple, grapes, strawberries), chop it up into 1/2" squares, blend in shredded coconut, raisins, peacans, then drizzle sweetened condensed milk over it and enjoy! We did. However, do not order a vampiro (vampire). I thought it might be a raspberry, watermelon, or whatever red fruit drink. They mixed it up, I took a big gulp --- gasp, beet juice mixed with carrot, etc. I will find other ways to get my vegetables.

As I have stated, we enjoyed being with the Stephenson clan. They are good people and we enjoyed going to church with many of them. We were greeted in English but then, of course, the rest of the service was in Spanish. Shortly after receiving the sacrament, Megan decided that she needed to run around, so I plucked her from running down the aisle and we spent the rest of the meeting in the foyer then outside. My Norwegian didn't help me understand the speakers so the leg stretching was OK for me too. We make it a point to attend church even on vacation. It is the right thing to do.

Before we knew it, the week was over. We took a barefoot walk on the beach our last morning then it was time to head back to the frozen north. A snow storm greeted us but it did not diminish the warmth of memories of good people, fun times, and the beauty of Mexico in December.

We have our own beauty in Cache Valley -- note our neighbor's tree.