A Family Visit at Jensen's Grove

This is Part I of the Holloway's and Blacks visit to Idaho. So, for now, here are some pictures from our afternoon at Jensen's Grove. We had so much fun with Travis' parents, siblings, and neices and nephews there.
Here we are at Jensen's Grove:

Our neice Jenna Holloway with her "magic feather." She was very enamored by it. =) And what four year old wouldn't be, anyway?

Travis' mom with her grandbaby Spencer:

Travis' dad hanging out with the Grandkids in the water. You can tell what fun Grandparents Dave and Anita are!

Travis and his brother Tyler (with Spencer in arms), helping with kid patrol. What good loving uncles these guys are!

Travis' older brother Brandon Holloway (visiting from Ohio) and his younger sister Tia.

Tyler chillin with Spencer in the water.

Travis exploring the water with our nephew Kaden.

Our fun and imaginative neice Jenna.

"No, you're Stinky Pete." "No, you're Stinky Pete!" (But really, brother Brandon is Stinky Pete.)

"Grandma Lita" hanging out with her two grandsons.

Thanks Holloways and Blacks for a fun time at the beach. We loved being with you!!! Come again soon.

Christmas 2007 Slide Show

Hello, All. This is Travis again. I've been working on putting together slide shows of things we've done and I have one ready to post. This is of our Christmas last year so it's not quite recent...but better late than never. And its kind of long...Enjoy.

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day, everyone. Mom and Dad and Tyler and Tia came up from Blackfoot and took us up to the cemetery in Cedron and Victor so we could see all the sights up there. I hadn't been there since I was really young and Jenny had never been. It was fun to see my ancestors' graves and watch the ceremony they did at the Cedron cemetery with the 21 gun salute and a bugler playing Taps(that's the main thing I remembered from going when I was a kid). And Jenny, being the diligent photographer that she is, captured six generations with her camera. We'll start with the youngest. Here we go...

1. Me and Tyler (Tia went to the car to stay warm)
2. Dad
3. Grandma Larson and her brother, Asa "Junior" Drake


4. Asa Merritt Beecher Drake and Gertrude Olga Ripplinger (Grandma Larson's Parents)


5. Richard Asa Drake and Martha Rice (Grandma Larson's Grandparents)


6. Richard Drake and Phoebe Lovina Beecher (Grandma Larson's great-grandparents)


It was good to go up there and see and feel a little piece of our family's history.

Arizona Vacation Part II

Our last night in Tucson, my parents took us and my Grandpa Roger (my dad's dad) to Trail Dust Town, a mock pioneer-era village, with a free admission, lots of fun little shops, and a rodeo show. It was a blast; probably Travis' favorite part of the trip.

Here's the map of the town:

This was a little train that you could ride on around the village for a $2 fare. How could we resist?

Trav and I on the train. What a cute couple we are. =)

My mom, dad (the former train electrician), and Grandpa Roger riding behind us, and having a grand ol' time.

I locked Travis up in the jail after we got off (but I let him go, so don't worry).

Travis as an old miner, with his "noble steed". (The weird thing is that there was a guy who I think worked there who looked like a miner from this era...literally. Scraggly beard, dirty clothes, an old hat, yellow teeth...the works. Travis thought he was a statue at first, sitting on a chair just to the right of and behind Travis (outside of view here). It was crazy.)

Me as a cowgirl:

Mom as a fair maiden:

Dad as a fair maiden...?

After looking at the sweet shop and the general store (joke shop), we went to the Pinnacle Peak Restaurant and had some dinner. Here are the boys at the beginning of our meal. What a handsome bunch!

Now, this restaurant has one rule and one rule only: No ties! (My dad had warned the guys of this beforehand, but they all wore a tie anyway to see what the waitress would do. (They actually knew what she would do, but this makes it sound more dramatic).) Anyway, when we had finished our meal, our waitress came and shouted for all the boys to stand up and put their hands in the air!! And what do you think happened next?

She cut their ties in half!!!! (Not too much of a waste really, because the ties were hideous =).)

The waitress holding the bottom half of Trav's tie triumphantly in the air:

Two halfs, but not whole.

The boys mourning the loss of their ties:

The waitress then gave each of the guys a card to put their name on and stapled the bottom half of their ties to the wall (as is tradition there). The guys even got to choose where she put them. But really, it was a fun little joke, and they all had a good time.

And the food was delicious! We enjoyed a scrumptious meal of BBQ ribs and pulled pork!

And after dinner, was the show! There was a guy who roped, and then a shoot em up show that followed, which was super funny and entertaining. The roper asked for a volunteer to help with his show, and I raised my hand, so in the video below I am entertaining the crowd while he R-U-N-N-O-F-T to get a bigger rope. It was fun. Then after the show, we got an old time picture taken, which I have always wanted to do, and which turned out really well. You can see it when you come visit us. We had a really good time at the Trail Dust Town, and would recommend it to anyone visiting Tucson. =)

When we got home, we met up with my Uncle Jim who had just gotten back in town, and opened up our belated wedding gift from him: Religious Experience Salsa (from an old inside joke), and then ate some of our wedding gift! Yum.

We were also so happy that my Grandpa Roger was able to come over from San Diego to visit with us for a few days while we were there. This was Travis' first time to meet people on my dad's side of the family, and I was so happy that he was able to, and that he got along with them so well. Thanks everyone, especially mom and dad for a wonderful vacation!! We love you!!! Hope to see you all again soon!

Arizona Vacation

A documentation of our trip to Tucson, Arizona this past April...better late than never right? So, here goes:

First, we flew into the Phoenix Airport, where we were picked up by my parents. Then, we took the scenic drive to Tucson, and stopped on the way at the Mesa Temple and Visitor's Center (which you should all visit when you get the chance), as well as a couple of church bookstores. Finally, we arrived in Tucson, stopped by and spent some time with my Grandma Bern, then went out to eat at the Golden Corrall. Finished, full, and worn out from the heat (98 degrees), we crashed at my parents new house on the other side of town.

The next day, we went to Colossal Cave, a natural, completely dry cave formed from sulfuric acid. It was my first time being in a cave, and it was totally cool! We went on a guided tour, learned the history of the cave, and saw a lot of really neat formations. I took a million pictures, but none of them really do it justice, so I won't post many of them on here.

Here's the cave entrance:

Trav and I walking along the cave path:

A view of the cave ceiling:

A super neat cave wall formation:

Me, with my mom walking in front:

This had been the first time that my dad had visited the cave since he was a teenager/in his early twenties, and the first time ever for the rest of us, so we all had a good time. Thanks mom and dad!

The next day, we went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, one of our favorite spots in Tucson. It is a museum dedicated to the wildlife (plants and animals) of the Sonoran Desert. There are specialists who teach you about various plants and animals, as well as indoor and outdoor venues for the animals. And the really neat part of it is that it is mostly an outdoor museum!

Here is a view of the Sonoran Desert (beautiful, huh? The tall cacti are Saguaros. We also saw agaves, ocatillos, and prickly pear, to name a few of the plants):

Here we are walking along the path to see some of the animals:

I had to get a picture of Trav in the desert--it being his first time and all:

This is an owl that one of the museum volunteers talked to us about (I didn't use the zoom for this picture). I think he's beautiful.

I love this picture. It makes me laugh every time I look at it. You can't help but wonder what the deer is thinking.

A prickly pear:

This little guy crawled into and out of one of the exhibits =)

Here is a coyote:

My dad used to have a dog that was part coyote when he was younger, and truly has a love for dogs. (Notice what the coyote is looking at.)

After we saw the outdoor exhibits, we went into an auditorium where they had a presentation on Gila Monsters and Rattle Snakes (called "Live, and sort of on the loose"). It was cool to safely see these creatures in person, and to learn more about them.

Thanks mom and dad for a fun time at the museum!

A Follow Up At The Doctor's

A little over a week ago, Travis and I returned to Madison Women's Clinic for a follow up to our initial pregnancy appointment. The news that we recieved from the Dr. is that the blighted ovum is all gone, and that in two more months, we should be able to start trying to get pregnant again. Yeah! Travis and I have talked about it and feel like we should have children as soon as we can, so we hope to be telling you all in three months time that we're having a baby. Thank you all for your love and prayers on our behalf. The pain in our hearts is lessening, and our hope and faith are increasing, and I know your prayers have been a part of that. Thank you. We love you.

P.S. The Dr. also kindly reassured us that the miscarriage wasn't a result of anything Travis or I had done, that these things just happen.

Happy Birthday, Jenny!

Jenny had a rather extended birthday celebration this year for various reasons but mainly because its fun to celebrate birthdays. She was born April 19th, 1985 (and that means this post is really late, but better late than never, right?). Her dad's birthday is the 13th of April and we were in Arizona visiting them the week between the two birthdays so we did a combined party for them. We actually did cool stuff every day we were there and someday we'll post pictures of that too...but today is specifically birthday.

Celebration #1

Jenny's cousin (who also lives in Tucson) made an amazing dinner and cake-like dessert. This is her lighting the candles.


A shot of the birthday father-daughter pair just before blowing out the candles. The cool spiral shape of the candles makes up for not having all 83 candles (60 for John, 23 for Jenny).


And here's Jenny enjoying some birthday goodness.

Celebration #2
This was the actual day of Jenny's birth. We left Arizona on the 18th and stayed in Blackfoot that night. To celebrate with my family we had a special birthday breakfast of waffles (Jenny's favorite) topped with strawberries and whipped cream and bacon on the side. Delicious. Don't you love how birthdays are all about good food?!


This is Jenny sitting down to the amazing meal described previously.

Celebration #3
I don't remember when this "party" was but it was sometime after we were back in Rexburg. I made a birthday cake for Jenny. I thought we had candles at home but turns out they were gone so we stuck a few matches in the cake for her to blow out.

We had to light all the matches really fast so they wouldn't burn out before she got to blow them out.

Celebration #4

Notice the size of the cake in the preceeding picture. Can you imagine the two of us trying to eat the whole thing in a reasonable amount of time? We tried but were failing miserably. Rather than throw it out, we had a couple of Jenny's old roommates and very good friends over to help her celebrate one last time. They cooked dinner AND did the dishes AND helped us finish the cake. It was great. Here are the pics.

The Three Amigas. I don't think anyone else really cared but i thought it would be extra cool if we had party hats so i got some.

Yep. Another picture of us....wearing party hats!

And the Birthday Girl.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

WE LOVE YOU, JENNY!