July Festivities, Capener Reunion, Mt. Rushmore

1. Little Catharine likes to come and visit, and I took her picture.

2. Daniel and Ellen came over for the 4th of July in Riverside.

Samuel, Ellen holding Michael.

3. Samuel and Daniel

4. Michael loved the candy, wrapper or not.

5. Chris and Colleen's family were in charge of the snow cones.

Caleb is having a lot of fun making snow cones.

6. The Capener reunion was the next weekend.

7. In the middle is U. Ralph and E. Melony

8. A. Ellen, Jilyn, Tim, Mike Capener

9. Massage Time! Susan, Tammy, Colleen with Livie, Katrina

and Mallory looking on.

10. Little Jacoby (Ithink)

11. David's family came up the day after the reunion and

they played a game one of Amanda's brothers made.

They really seemed to have a good time.

David, Joe, Chris, Michael

12. Zach, Alaina, Leah, and Mia on swings,

Matthew and Ben.

13. We stopped one night on our way home from our mission

to watch Jeffery's baseball game. He's pitching here. He

plays on the high school team.

14. Val, skinny Ryan, Jeffrey

We had the Jensen Family Reunion in Mesquite, Nevada.

We had such a great time. I'm going to make one blog

with pictures from the reunion.

15. Tesha had a birthday party for me on Sunday.

I had lots of help blowing out the candles.

Catharine and Samuel blowing out the candles.

16. On the 15th we went on our mission so we could be in the picture 

of all the missionaries in our mission. There's about 1,200 but

they are not all here. We do get to know

a lot of people from such a variety of good people.

17. That night we went to a Bees baseball game with David

and his family. It was a special deal for a family night

with free hot dogs. It was fun to watch the game with them.

We gave them their shirts from the reunion. David, Robert,

Alaina, Matthew, Eric and Jacoby.

18. The one in the green shirt is Robert, then David, Matthew,

Mom, Alaina, and either Eric or Jacoby.

19. Alaina and Grandpa eating their hot dog.

20. We had a party with Dad's siblings because U. Doug

came in. We had a good time visiting and eating. Yes, A. 

Cathy made her fruit salad. Here is Bill, Mark, A. Cathy, Dad

and Anita

21.  After the reunion, Paul and Lacey's family came up north.

They stayed at the Bingham's, but one day we went out to

the Golden Spike and Rocket Garden.

Here is Leah and Levi.

22. Ben, Leah, Zach, Chloe, Levi

23. These kids did the Junior Ranger program.

This is Chloe, Ben, Leah, Zach, and Levi taking their pledge.

24. At the rocket garden. Some of Kayleen and Shalyn's

children came along with us.

25. It was great to see Dad explain things to Paul and

tell him all about the things he did at Thiokol. It was

very interesting. You each need a tour with him.

26. Joe came over from work and joined in the tour.

27. Afterwards we stopped at the shaved ice in Garland

for a treat. Paul is far left, Katrina (Shalyn's), Sammi, Leah.

28. We took Jared from Spencer's back to Mar's.

It was fun to have him here for the evening and 

Mallory came over to visit.

29. Our Relief Society had a mother, daughter

activity. It was fun to spend the evening with Ellen.

30. On Thursday we went to the friends and family

showing of 7 Brides for 7 Brothers. It was great.

Paul and Lacey and kids & cousins came also.

31. After the show with Mike and Emily.

32. We've watched Luke a lot and it's been very fun.

He's sure growing up and loves to play with his cousins

and jump on the trampoline.

33. Catharine putting coconut oil on Luke's

eczema. 

34. Snack time. Zach, Luke, Catharine with Ben behind

and Leah.

35. Paul came down and we had such a great visit.

He brought Levi and I found one of his favorites: grilled 

cheese sandwiches. He ate two and loved the stringy cheese.

36. Mia, Zander, Zach, and Leah. They have such

a good time together.

37. We took a trip together to Mr. Rushmore. It was a fast

trip, but we had so much fun. We left after our mission on

a Thursday and drove to Casper, Wyoming. The next

morning we went to Crazy Horse and to Mt. Rushmore.

I was so beautiful. We climbed the stairs to a closer look

and it was beautiful. (Cross-fit helped the climb!)

We weren't going to buy a shirt, but this just had to be Dad's.

38. We stayed in Rockerville in a cabin. It was much

better than I thought it would be. The next day we drove

to Devil's Tower. It was really interesting and cool to see.

That night we got to Silvia and Doran's apartment in

Cody. They are on a mission there. It was so good

to visit and spend time with them. Doran had so many

good stories and history to tell us. 

This picture is the Mural painted on the church in Cody.

It's a dome and is amazing to see. Doran knew all the

story behind the artist, painting, etc.

39. Doran is showing us an old family Bible.

The artist painted it into the mural.

40. Pictures of mural in a pamphlet.

41. Us with U. doran and A. Silvia. Creighton took the picture.

42. This is in Cody at Buffalo Bill Cody's hotel.

The bar and backdrop was a gift from Queen Victoria,

so I had to get a picture.

43. Mt. Rushmore

44. Our cabin

45. A national military cemetery in Sturgis. It was right off

the freeway. It was very humbling to see. I'm so

grateful for the all the sacrifices in building this nation. 

46. Doran took us for a drive on the Chief Joseph

Scenic Byway. The scenery was unreal.It was so beautiful.

I had no idea that Wyoming was so beautiful. All I've

every seen, other than Yellow Stone, is along I-80.

The picture doesn't do it justice.

47. This is "prayer rock." While building the canal, the
men came to this rock and couldn't get through it or destroy
it so they could keep the canal coming. They prayed for
a way to get through. All in all, it was a miracle. The
men were called away from the work area and the rock
collapsed, clearing the way for the canal.

It's been a beautiful month. We've had so much
family time. I love seeing the cousins have so much
fun together. There was lots of good visiting time.
It was great to finish my Mother's book and see my siblings.
It was so great to go on a trip together and see places
we've never seen before. We learned a lot of history
about Wyoming. I don't think we can be complete, or understand
what we should do without knowing our history.
We grow from it. I love you all.