Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple Open House

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This morning we went to the Open House of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. Just beautiful. Can you tell the sun is in our eyes?

If you want to know why Mormons build temples, go here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x_-TQivCx8

Oregon

We’re back from our annual fabulous trip the wilds of Oregon. Overall it was bonding time as a couple family, and extended family filled with the usual adventures, including:
The beach! Freezing and wild it didn’t stop us from boogie boarding in our wet suits on 2 different occasions (once with Uncle Shawn). We also visited Hug Point with the Per McCord family where we played in the sand, flew kites, waded, and climbed on rocks.
Hiking! We brought our stroller and backpacks to Oregon…next time we’re ditching the stroller! We hiked a little bit of Tillamook Head at Ecola State Park, behind Kjell’s house (once filled with huge trees…now a little barren due to a storm in December of 2007), and around the Sitka Spruce State Park.
Eating! Lots of delicious meals cooked by Ruby. One night she cooked for 17 people – no problemo for a mother of 9. Did I mention that we never went without fresh cookies? We also never fail to visit one of the many candy kitchens in Seaside and Canon Beach. Time to start running again in the new shoes I got at the Seaside Outlet mall.
Family time! A trip with Ruby to run errands and garage-saling with Ruby and my sister-in-law Julie. A lovely date with Kjell including a date at Doogan’s in Seaside. Wading and splashing in a beautiful, warm (compared to the ocean) river. Julie and Olivia hiking with 5 little boys. Playing tourists in Seaside with Grandma Ruby and Grandpa Larry as we rode the tilt-a-whorl, bumper cars, and miniature train. We also loved catching up with Uncle Per and Aunt Julie and their cuties Kurt, Ansel, and Lars, Uncle Shawn and Vanessa, Aunt Emma-kate and Keith, Uncle Carl, and Uncle Kye (who recently graduated high school).

Curtains

I once heard (on HGTV of course) that window treatments are the "jewelry of the room." How true!

Here are some curtains I made with gorgeous fabric courtesy of my lovely Aunt Darcy:

Photo 1 - An extra-long shower curtain that has worked very well to keep the shower warm and steamy.

Photo 2 - Couldn't resist adding a "before" picture of the large window in our living room. No I did not make those curtains.

Photo 3 - "After" picture of our large living room window and the curtains I did make.

The Jean Anne at the Smithsonian

M/V Jean Anne is now on permanent display at the Smithsonian (National Museum of American History).

Photo 1: A model of the Jean Anne in a case entilted "On the Water" that features modern carriers.

Photo 2: The Jean Anne in the port of San Diego in March of 2005.

Photo 3: You can see my mom, Kjell, and me (9 months pregnant with Marcus) in the front row of the Christening. Those are doves in case you thought we were being attacked by pigeons.

Here is some more information on the Jean Anne. My dad is a principal of HSM (that's Hawaii Ship Management for all of you who thought he was a dancer in High School Musical):

PURE CAR AND TRUCK CARRIER (PCTC) OCEAN SERVICE
Fortnightly Calls between the Mainland and Hawaii
Pasha Hawaii Transport Lines LLC (Pasha Hawaii) offers Roll-On/Roll-Off (Ro-Ro) service for automobiles, buses, trucks, and/or other large and oversize rolling stock in the Mainland/Hawaii trade. The first PCTC vessel to be built in the United States, the Jean Anne began service from her Home Port in San Diego, California on March 21, 2005 and celebrated her 100th voyage February 5, 2009. Now in her fifth year of service, Jean Anne makes regular fortnightly calls to San Diego, Hilo, Kahului, and Honolulu, with monthly or inducement calls to Nawiliwili.
A growing demand for the movement of automobiles and trucks between Pacific Coast Ports and Hawaii, coupled with the declining Ro-Ro capacity in the trade, has created a need for purpose-built PCTC vessels in this market. The Jean Anne is enrolled in the military's Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement (VISA) and is eligible to carry Department of Defense-sponsored vehicles and rolling stock.
Pasha Hawaii is a joint venture between The Pasha Group, a California-based automobile handling and logistics company, and Hawaii Ship Management LLC (HSM), a Connecticut-based ship owner and operator. The Pasha Group has been involved in vehicle handling/logistics and terminal operations for over 60 years, with current facilities at the ports of San Diego, California, and Baltimore, Maryland.

Retro Rockets

I found these deflated "tubes" at a garage sale a few weeks ago. Imagine the boys delight (and my surprise) to find out they were actual "Retro Rockets". Not bad for a quarter each!

Here we are at Spanish Oaks Reservoir today.

Flags, Friends, Falls, Family, and Fireworks for the Fourth

We began the day with a neighborhood flag ceremony (very patriotic) as the sun rose over the mountains.
Next, we went on a hike at Sundance with Kjell’s brother Joshua and our friends Becky and Kenric Russell. We used to hang out with the Russells pre-kids, so it was quite the change to go on a 3 mile hike with 5 kids in tow (they have 2 girls ages 4 and 1). We took the chairlift to the top of the mountain – absolutely gorgeous if you haven’t done it – and hiked down via Stewart Falls. We were especially proud of Marcus who did the entire hike without being carried or even slowing us down. He fell asleep within 5 minutes of leaving the parking lot on the way home.
After some quiet time, we had a delicious BBQ with the Russells and 2 of Kjell’s brothers – Bjorn (visiting from BYU-I and Joshua). Next we made s’mores in our backyard and lit countless fireworks that apparently Kjell has been collecting for years (for the kids of course). All males in the party were in heaven, to say the least.
Lastly, friends Pam, Rachel, and Amy joined us to watch the “Stadium of Fire” fireworks from our back deck. We were all beat today. What a fun, fabulous, fantastic Fourth.

Photo 1 - Stewart Falls in the background - very high due to the abundance of rain in June. Joshua was a great sport to carry 4 year old Lucy Russell the entire hike.

Photo 2 - Fireworks in the cul-de-sac.

Photo 3 - Happy boys.

Balloon Fest

Getting up at 6 am to go and see a bunch of hotair balloons? Totally worth it! Definitely a new McCord Family tradition.

Boys in Ties

Soooo...I originally took these pictures to make cute Father's Day cards for my dad and dad-in-law, but I was too busy that day letting Kjell know what an amazing father he is...forgive me? Happy Fathers Day (2 weeks late)!