Marchant Madness

Doug went up hiking with his sisters--Natalie and Jenn. Natalie's family came and they had a great time hiking to Lake Solitude and took some great photos I thought I would share. I had to work, so was unable to join them on this fun adventure.


Doug and his two of his favorite sisters, Jenn (left) and Natalie (right).

The group--Doug, Jenn, Natalie & Dave Gordon
Spencer, Amanda and Maren Gordon

Spencer found a curious pathway as they were having a picnic. He repeated his course about a dozen times!

Shamu Rocks!

Sea World had a night show called Shamu Rocks that was amazing. It's a summer show and we loved it.


Doug was feeling adventurous and suggested we go on Atlantis at night. May not sound to adventurous--except that it was freezing outside! So, I was thinking I would be miserable. But, being so adventurous together made me laugh too hard to be that cold.



The sad part about the next two photos is that we're standing in front of the ride--but you cannot see it in the photos. Just goes to show that...you had to be there.



I kept this in here because it is so funny to see my face with nothing behind me. Gotta love flash photography.

Sea World Happiness

The best way to tell this story is with lots of photos. We went to Sea World in San Diego on Monday August 11th and found this cool feeding area for the Dolphins. They had already been fed that day, so trying to get them to come play with you was difficult. We tried everything.

About 15 minutes later, we noticed that one girl was getting dolphins to come up to her over and over. We watched her closely and started doing what she did--pretending she had food and closing her fist and tapping it against her hand. The dolphin came straight over to Doug. He looked up at me and said, "This is the coolest thing I have ever done." He looked like a 6-year-old boy. It was adorable.

I tried to get a photo of him looking at me and petting the dolphin and this is the closest I have...apparently these dolpins leave when you aren't looking at them.

So, Doug had me give it a try--worked like a charm.


Look at that face of complete delight!

Notice that we were the only ones with a dolphin by us. Everyone was crowding around us to touch them. It was so fun!

Notice I never opened my fist...once I did, they swim away. So, I kept if tightly closed.

For a while...


Then it let me know that it was on to my game and spit a whole bunch of water at me! Everyone around the whole pool laughed.

Afternoon with the Kellers

Sunday afternoon, my whole family hit the road for home after the wedding. Doug and I were the only ones hanging around for a few days after. The Kellers missed their flight and we got the spend the afternoon with them. We had a great time.


I found this pink and purple house and told Ellie to take a look at it. She couldn't stop, even for a photo. She is 100% cuteness.

We posed for a quick photo before Doug took them back to the airport in our little civic to avoid a $30 taxi fare for them. I sat with all of our luggage at the park--literally sitting on it, until Doug came back. I was sitting there for 90 minutes. Got a taste of what it's like to be homeless and not leaving your stuff for fear of someone taking something. But, knowing me, I made friends...a little boy playing soccer with his grandparents, a man and his huge fluffy dog, and a lady reading a book at the beach. Never mind meeting new people.

David's Wedding

David and Chelsea were married in the Los Angeles Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on August 8, 2008. It was a beautiful day...and it's a good thing, because they took a very long time to come out of the temple! We were waiting and trying to entertain the kids by taking their photos. It was pretty fun. These are the Beckstrand grandchildren. We are getting really old!


We were really glad to see them come out of the temple. It was a long wait--probably almost 2 hours or so.

Look how happy they are.

It was a little crazy to see David kiss a girl--I told him when they were engaged that I had never seen his kiss a girl and he went to kiss her and I said, "no". It was pretty weird.

Nasty Hollywood

Doug has never been to Hollywood. I have been once and thought we should make a pit-stop on our way to the hotel to meet my family for David's wedding. Can I just say, they must roll out a red carpet and put a backdrop up? It's dirty and run-down. Doug was disappointed and I guess I felt justified...fame and Hollywood is definately not all it's cracked up to be.

We did find the one part I enjoyed. The Chinese Theatre. There are handprints and footprints decades old and people signed into concrete. Pretty cool. Doug and I are in front of it here in this photo.

Conference Center Rock Concert

The Conference Center in Salt Lake City was built to hold the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was also built to host concerts and uplifting music. Well, I never thought I would see grown women crying watching Donny Osmond take the stage. When he started singing "Puppy Love", I started laughing because people were trying not to scream because, "this is the conference center." They were so excited. That was the highlight of the concert for me. There were disco lights and everything--it was awesome. President Thomas S. Monson was in the front row too...giving them a standing ovation. Can you image a standing ovation from the Prophet?