Company and a Cruise

I have been an AWOL blogger of late and I just couldn't bring myself to blog about Christmas in February - so, I am moving forward.  Maybe I will sort through all the photos and make a post about the holiday's later... 

 

After a very busy holiday season filled with wonderful time with family - we then hosted one of our Russian returned missionaries. Mark Illarionov came from Kzan, Russia to visit family (living back east) and friends (in the west). Mark stayed with us for 4 days. We took him to the MTC for dinner and the devotional, made a day trip to Manti for a special temple session and we hosted an Open House for him which turned out to be a mini-missionary reunion. He was thrilled to see his former mission companions and many others that had served with him.  It was fun to be with our missionaries again and meet their wives, girlfriends and even some of their children. 

This photo shows some of those that attended.

 

Mark is standing next to me in this photo with Adam Larsen, Andrew Bressler and Hal.  How we love those young men and women that we were privileged to serve with!

 

 

Also during Mark's visit, Michael Nielsen and Alex Finlinson came for a lunch of Russian Borscht.

 

 

 

Family Cruise with Hal's Siblings and Spouses

During the last week of January and first part of February we enjoyed a family cruise. 

 

Roy, Dixie, Patty

Paul, Cynthia and Hal

 The night before we boarded the ship, part of our group went to a seafood restaurant for dinner.  This was a noisy, crazy place where everyone was given a mallet (for cracking crab) and every time a birthday, anniversary or any celebration was announced (and there were plenty of them) - everyone in the restaurant pounded the table together for 10 seconds (or more) to recognize the event!  At first all the noise was annoying but once we got into it, it was fun to wait for the next announcement and pound away!

 

Karma, Mike, Hal and Patty

Once on board the ship - we of course went directly to the dining room for lunch!

 

Thumbs up for the delicious lobster that was served for dinner the first night aboard!

 

After 2 days at sea, our first stop was St. Thomas followed by Dominica the next day. This lush, green island was an interesting port with hot springs, crafts made by the native people and beautiful mountain peaks.  I think this was my favorite stop!

 

 

Back in the 1980's Dominica was severely damaged by a hurricane.  This school bus was flattened when a huge tree blew over on it.  Fortunately, no one was in the bus at the time!

 

Hal's friend from teenage years (and friend of all the Mickelsen family) Jim Cook and his wife Louise joined us on the cruise.  Jim is full of fun and adds life to any party.  Here he is wearing the hat to dinner that he purchased on Dominica.

 

The next island we visited was Barbados.  Here we took a short tour of the island with Larry&Linda. 

 

The following day we stopped on beautiful St. Lucia.  This photo shows part of our group plus a dog that Paul befriended!

 

Looking down on the harbor where our ship was anchored in St. Lucia.

 

 

Back Row: Roy, Cynthia, Linda, Wayne, Patty and Karma

Middle Row: Dixie, Paul, Larry, Ann, Hal and Mike

Front Row: Matt, Ramie, Louise and Jim Cook.

Our whole group!

We held Sacrament Meeting in the Ship's Chapel on Sunday and took photos after church.

 

 

Our last stop was St. Maarten.  We sailed on the Norwegian Sun!

How glad we were that it was NOT the Carnival Triumph!!!

 

I love the beautiful blue color of the Caribbean ocean!!

These photos were taken on St. Maarten.

 

We enjoyed a great cruise with lots of time for family bonding!  It was smooth flying on our trip home until we flew into the Salt Lake Valley.  There, we circled the airport for 45 minutes waiting for an opportunity to land in the fog/inversion.  After a hard "bump down" landing, it was back to the reality of winter with snow, cold and smoggy air - but the trip was worth it!

Behind and not catching up any time soon!

As I took a few minutes and browsed through blogs, I realized that I am so behind with blogging!  Since I don't even remember when in November there has been one important event after another and of course the holidays and visits from family and now we are hosting one of our former Russian missionaries.  I will sort through all my pictures and memories and one day - hopefully soon - I will try to catch up!  I love reading all of your blogs and hearing about your memories of the holidays with your families and friends.
PS
I did get my background and photo changed!  That's a start -right?

Birthdays, A Baptism & A Baby Blessing!

These past few weeks have been filled with busy days!  We have celebrated family birthdays, Sareya's baptism and Evelyn's blessing.  Here are a few photo highlights.  

 Our birthday girl - Lillian!

She turned 9 on October 14, 2012.

She is such a sweetheart-

every year she has her hair cut and donates it to

Locks for Love which is a charity for

children with cancer. 

I love her hair long or short!

She and Ella are enjoying birthday cupcakes and homemade raspberry ice cream.

 

Lillian and cousin Kyra comparing height

     Treygan, Alex and Sareya are also enjoying the treats.

 Sweet baby Evelyn and Grandma

 Hal  - the birthday boy! 

Celebrating with pecan pie - his favorite!

Reading a story with Grandpa

I do love this picture!



Grandpa, Evan & Kelly and some of the cousins.

Violet & Tricia

 Preston and friend - Lilyana (she IS just a friend!) 

           

Preston took Hal and I out to celebrate our birthdays.

He does this every year.  We went to the

Red Lobster with Preston and Lilyana -

his friend visiting from Columbia.

 

Sareya on baptism day - November 3, 2012 -

She looks like an angel in her pretty white dress!

Dad, Mom and Sareya on her special day!

The group of family and friends that gathered for Sareya's baptism!

November 4, 2012 - Evelyn's blessing day -

 The Woidka Family!!

We miss having Jessica, Adam, Gigi and Hailey and Conrad at

all of these family events. 

 I guess we will just have to wait to see them until the holiday season!!

Congratulations to Adam and Jessica on their new addition -

he will arrive next April!!

 

Baby Evelyn is here!

Evelyn Marie Woidka was born Thursday, September 27, 2012.  Mother and baby are both doing fine.  She is a beautiful baby with lots of dark hair and reminds me of Allison as a baby.  We are so happy to welcome Evelyn to our family.  We now have 10 granddaughters and 4 grandsons and of course we love them all!

 

Grandma & Evelyn

Grandpa & Evelyn

Ella holds her new baby sister

Alex holding Evelyn who slept through her welcome home event!

    

Beautiful Autumn!

We love living here in Elk Ridge so near to the mountains.  Every season is beautiful to see but I have decided that Autumn is my favorite - I love the vivid colors and the touch of coolness in the air.  I try to go on a walk each day and take that walk on nearby roads and trails that take me into the mountain scenery.  Here are some pictures I took this week while on my walk.

I love the sunflowers and brightly colored trees contrasting with the green trees and shrubs.

The road less traveled

Beautiful hillside and mountains

Pretty pathway

Look closely for the deer - I see them on almost every walk.

On my way back, I ran into Kelly who was out on a jog with Shadow (who happens to be standing in a shadow).

 

Trip to Kauai

We recently spent 10 days on the beautiful island of Kauai.  Evan, Kelly and family and Tricia and James and family also went.  With 8 children, the trip was always exciting - not a lot of time for just relaxing!  We enjoyed being together, seeing beautiful scenery and eating delicious island food.  Here are some of the highlights of our trip.

We spent the first three days on the south end of the island at Poipu.

This picture shows Violet and Aleeya enjoying the pool at the Sheraton.  The beach was nearby as you can see and we loved the view and the proximity to the ocean.

Hal and I enjoyed one of many delicious fresh fish dinners at the "Gaylord's Plantation Restaurant".

 

We visited the Spouting Horn - a lava tube on the Poipu coast.

Evan and Kelly and Family at the Spouting Horn

James, Tricia and Family at the Spouting Horn with Treygan in the background! 

We also visited the beautiful "grand canyon" of Kauai - Waimea Canyon.  The view was gorgeous!

The Mickelsen Family

The Thomas Family

Kauai has chickens and roosters everywhere on the island!  There are many differing accounts of why there are so many - one account says that they broke free of their chicken coops during the 1992 hurricane and now have free run of the island. We were never sure why there were so many chickens but we certainly saw them everywhere we went!  

This photo shows Violet feeding a rooster at a scenic outlook.  The native Hawaiian that "owned" the rooster was selling jewelry and hoping for a donation.  He asked for  a volunteer to feed his rooster and Violet stepped forward.  She later asked the man why he was naked and he answered that he was "dressed" like that because it was hot!  The innocence and candidness of a child is amazing!

We stopped at a beautiful overlook of the coast.

We then traveled to Princeville (the north end of the island) and spent the next week at condos there.  We were blessed with great weather and we loved the beautiful surroundings and views of the "Garden Island".

We celebrated Tricia's birthday on September 1st.  We enjoyed a lovely fish dinner that evening.

 

Our birthday girl!

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday we attended church at the Hanalei Branch.  These pictures show the girls dressed up and all ready for church.

 

 

 

 

 

 We enjoyed a delicious brunch at the St. Regis Hotel in Princeville with a gorgeous view of Hanalei Bay.  The setting couldn't have been more beautiful.

 

Treygan certainly got his money's worth at the brunch enjoying multiple plates of crab, beef, bacon, chicken, fresh fruit, pancakes, crepes, eggs Benedict, lemon tarts, chocolate cake ................................



We loved the food and the view.  The fresh Hawaiian juices were so delicious!

 

Preston enjoying the food!

At 2 months, Ruby is smiling and responding to the people around her.

 

We went to a Luau and enjoyed the food and the entertainment - this photo shows the kalua pig ceremony before the feast.

 

Kyra and Treygan waiting for our turn to head to the buffet tables.

 

Dorothy and Sareya

 

After dinner, the music performers called for those who wanted to learn the hula to come up on stage.  Our girls joined with others for the hula lesson.

Photos taken after the dinner before the luau entertainment.

 

Treygan and Hawaiian conch shell blower

 

 

 

We took a hike down a steep trail to see the "Queen's Bath"

 

Patty and Hal at the "Queen's Bath"

The Thomas Family at the "Queen's Bath"

 

It was a great trip with lots of activities and time to be together as a family.