All-Star and MVP

Alex was at the BYU Basketball camp this week. At the end of the week, they had two important games: the All-Star game, and the Championship game. Alex played in both games. At the award ceremony, when all the awards were handed out, Alex received the MVP (Most Valuable Player) award. That's huge! There were over 400 boys at this camp, 8 leagues, and one boy from each league received the MVP award. That is such a great honor. Alex is on cloud nine, or maybe it is cloud ten for him. Awesome, Great, tremendous, splendid, super and excellent job Alex!

Alex and BYU Head Basketball Coach Dave Rose

I don't do tags

This is for those people who want to put my name at the end of their tag to tag me, I DON'T DO TAGS. So don't bother. So sorry to disappoint, but I'm way, way too lazy to do all of that thinking about my life. I can hardly remember what I did last night (cleaned from 5pm to midnight) let alone think what I did 10 years ago. BUT, I enjoy reading your tags, so just wipe my name from your memory when you are about to enter the next 5 names to tag.

Little Women

9 friends from Finland are coming this Wednesday, that's tomorrow, to visit us for three weeks. We are so excited to have them at our house. But instead of cleaning all night and preparing for the visit, I opted out, and went to the Hale Center Theater to watch the Little Women instead with Katie, her sister Sharon and their parents. It was such a fun musical, even though at times, I heard sniffling next to me when Katie and Sharon were full on bawling at the sad parts. I totally recommend this musical for all. As usual, Hale Center puts out great plays.

Orem Summerfest-Fireworks

When we returned home from Maui, Orem Summerfest was in full swing. After sleeping all day, we rolled out of bed and went to see the fireworks. They were great, as usual.

Arriving home from Maui

Sunrise at 32,000 feet...arriving into the mainland.


10 minutes later.


10 minutes later.

10 minutes later. Good morning, sunshine!

And no, I didn't sleep at all on the way home. It is just one of those things that I can't do in the airplane. I can't read either...the only thing I CAN do is look out the window and keep my eye on the "road". Also, I kept my eyes on this engine because if something happened, there would have been so many things, I could have done to save the aircraft...like panic.

Hello Salt Lake City.

Alex not so happy to be home. Join the gang, buddy!

Carsen still has sleep in his eyes.

It is good to be home...I guess.

Rap at Haleakala, Day 8 in Maui

Alex and Carsen, and their "Food Rap" at the beautiful Haleakala volcano at 10,000 feet. Turn the volume up.


Carsen and Alex with the Haleakala volcano in the background (notice that the boys are NOT on this side of the fence, of course). This was a perfect day to drive up to the volcano, because it was such a clear day, even though the clouds moved in and out, we got a great view to the bottom of the volcano.


"Best friends on three"

The highest point on Maui: 10,023 feet.

View towards Lahaina

Haleakala once again. Just breathtaking scenery.

Standing dangerously on the cliff. Yes, I was scared.

Beautiful jacarandas, eucalyptus and other trees grew right off the road on the way to Haleakala.

Today was the last day on Maui. We boarded the 10pm plane back to SLC. It was hard to say good-bye, because as many of you know, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Hawaii, and it feels like my second home, or should I say, third home. I'm not even going to tell in which order the "homes" come in.

Hawaiian Gigolos, Day 7 in Maui

Boom Baby!


Alex in the waves at Black Rock


Mr. Sandman. Check out the ear.


Alex is ready to hit the waves.

These are the Hawaiian Gigolos after dinner at Mama's Fish House.

Usher? No, that's just Alex.

Hey, hey, baby...

I'm speechless.

Shoot for the moon, boys.

It is getting sillier and sillier.

Alex

Carsen

Alex and Carsen, the Hawaiian Gigolos.

After a Day in the Sun...Deep Fried People, Day 6 in Maui

The big boys, Greg and Rod, went golfing at the Kaanapali Royal Course this morning. While they were golfing for free (yep, had to attend one of those 90 minute sales presentations to be able to get free golfing, it was worth it, and no, we didn't buy a timeshare), we had a relaxing day at the pool working on our tans.


Alex, the sun-worshipper. No need for sun screen, he wanted a good tan today. Notice, he still has a pale skin. This is early in the morning.


Alex and Carsen laying out...who needs sun screen?


Drinking Lava Flows by the pool, and getting more tan.

Alex and Rod playing in the pool before going snorkeling and boogie-boarding at the Black Rock. Sun screen has been applied at this point. Too late, you ask? Yes, WAY too late.

Rod showing off his Mexican/Oriental Hat purchase. He is ready to harvest the nearby rice patties.

At the end of the day...here is the result. Extreme pain with burnt skin. The wall is the same color as the boys' skin.

Aloe Vera has been applied, yet burning continues. Carsen mentioned that tomorrow will be indoor activity day, ONLY! We shall see.

Mayday, Mayday...we have a teenager!!! Day 5 in Maui

Alex turns 13 today. Happy birthday, buddy! We have arrived to that curious stage in life where everything from now on is unknown. Because dementia that has set in on us already, we can't remember our own teenage years. Rod talks about possibly being horrible. I can't remember most of mine. So, we are in unchartered waters. According to Alex, he told us that he can now sleep until 2pm in the afternoon because he is a teenager. He also says that hair will grow into places that hasn't seen hair before. We are excited to see Alex grow and continually develop into a wonderful young man that he already is.

To celebrate Alex's birthday, we surprised him with a morning Luau called Ho'omana'o at the Old Lahaina Luau. This was a celebration of the Hawaiian culture representing the history and traditions of the Native Hawaiian. What a fun way to start a birthday!

ps. The man in the red loin cloth had nothing under it, I thought, because I only saw buns of steel under there. Kristine told us that she got a glimpse of a black g-string. The same loin-cloth-wearing-nothing-under had a beautiful singing voice.

Alex, Carsen and Rod having an incredibly lavish breakfast. Yep, that extremely full plate of food is mine. Can anyone say:"Hungry?" But how can you say "no"??

The birthday boy enjoying the Hula.

Don't mess with this guy. He was showing us the ancient warrior weapons. He was scary, yet so buff. You should have seen the weapon with shark teeth on it.

We got to try out our skills on throwing a spear. Alex and Carsen both were able to hit the target tree. I settled on getting a stick-on tattoo.

At the end of the Luau, we went to say bye to the Tiki man. I totally recommend this morning Luau to anyone coming to Maui. I'm sure the nighttime Luau is fabulous, as well.

After the morning activities, Rod and the boys went snorkeling and boogie-boarding at the Black Rock. They had fun and all of them came back with a great tan. While they were gone, I took two naps.

For Alex's birthday dinner, we went out to Bubba Gump's. We had more shrimp than anyone is allowed to eat. It was delicious. Before going in, we saw Andrew's girlfriend, Sarah walking out. Funny how you can see somebody you know anywhere you go. We are also on the same return flight on Friday.

Rod and Marja after a ton of shrimp. Notice the guy over Rod's left shoulder totally posing for the picture.

Kristine and Greg before dinner. We were able to make Greg smile for the picture.


And this is what a 13-year old happy boy Alex looks like. We love you, Alex. You are the greatest!