Las Vegas

After our adventures in Utah, Josh had to go home to go to work and we stayed in Las Vegas, thinking we would have plenty of family activities available. Well, in my opinion this is not the city (downtown) to take your little kids to. It was really hot ofcourse, and there was a lot of construction going on with bad gases, and just messy appearance. However, the worst was that everywhere you walked, pictures of neaked women were on the street, as the guys and women 'selling' these women's 'services' try to pass cards with these pictures out to everyone and the majority of the cards end up on the street. It was so embarrasing. We walked from the Excalibur to the pirate show, which is quite far away, only to find out that that show even had not-very-well-covered ladies performing. So we left after 2 minutes, just to see at least teh ship go down. Fortunately on the way to that show, we made a few worthwhile stops, and also missed some that we should have gone to instead. I felt strongly though that I never want to visit that city (at least not downtown) again, I'd pay money to pass it by. The girls didn't like it much either, although we fortunately got to enjoy the hotel pool the majority of one day, and Jake helped us out by visiting with us on the way home to New Mexico.

Here a few pictures.

Extended Jewkes family Reunion

Josh' uncle Greg owns a property in Sand Hollow resort, in Ts. George, Utah, where Josh' dad's 6 brothers and 1 sister and all their kids and grandkids gathered for this extended family reunion. It always amazes me how everyone in the Jewkes family is committed to trying to make it to such a reunion, and how close everyone is, considering the number of people and how spread out they all live. It was a really nice place to be, with a lot of reconnecting, as well as a lot of fun activities. We got to play golf with the kids, and they even had a game of night-golf with lit-balls. We were able to playa little tennis and to go four-wheeling. The girls were able to go on the back of uncle Greg's four-wheeler, which they loved, such that he now is their favorite uncle! It was a lot of fun, as you can see in the pictures. It was actually here that we ended the week with a trip to Zion National park, of which pictures of the riverwalk are included too.

Jewkes Family Reunion

On monday we drove south to Brian Head, where Josh' immediate family had arranged for a very large and practical vacation home for sucha large family. From Brian Head we went to the Cedar Break for a hike, we went for some biking and swimming to Navajo Lake, which was amazing. The girls had a wonderful time with all their cousins fishing, splashing and swimming in the fairly cold water. I really love swimming in lakes, so I brought my swim goggles, but forgot my swimsuit. After realizing that the kids had some crazy uncles that decided to swim in their shorts and without shorts, I figured they may just as well have a crazy aunt and decided to swim in my clothes. It felt so good (besides the clothes ofcourse). We also went to bryce Canyone, where we hiked all the way to the bottom and back up with the girls, Jonkje, Josh, his dad, and Jacob his brother. It was a beautiful hike, and the girls must have thought so too, as they didn't complain at all, even though it was pretty long. We ended up going to Zion National Park for a beautiful riverwalk incl. a walk in the river, which the girls loved as well. We sure like this area with all of its beauty.

Provo and SLC Hikes w. Cantareros

One afternoon the girls and I hiked up Rock Canyon with Jasper in the baby bjorn. It was gorgious, though quite hot again, and we all enjoyed. That evening we picked up Josh from the SLC airport and then next morning we went first to go see the Oquirrh Mountain temple on the inside with all the kids. This was a very special opportunity for all of us, but especially for the girls as they have learned about temples at church, and that you can become an eternal family by getting married there, but they had never been able to go inside one. This is only possible for young children before a temple is dedicated, which was the case here. They were reaslly impressed adn learned a lot, simply by looking and reading the signs explaining what each room was for. It was a very special experience. Following that, we went to BYU to go bowling, some birthday shopping for Kailey (cousin) and then we hiked up the 'Y'. The Y is quite a steep hike up the mountain which was a nice work-out for all of us. The girls did really well, though Sofia was complaining of being tired and appeared to be be sick the next day, poor Fietje. We still all enjoyed it very much and the girls were really proud of themselves, as they should!

That night, Jackie and Simon and their family had arrived home, it was so fun to see them again! I especially love showing off Jasper for the first time to my friends, as he was such a miracle (once again, thanks to Dr. Sherbahn). We went to church with their family the next morning, and spent the rest of the afternoon on an absolutely beautiful hike in Alta, with many wild-flowers. As Sofia was sick, I carried her most of the way, with help from Jackie (Josh was carrying Jonkje). Only the pictures can show the beauty. It was so good to see Jackie and simon again, sure hope we can maintain seeing eachother at least once a year! Thank you so much guys for letting us use your house too, whata treat!

Jewkes Family Reunion (Salt Lake City w. the Kelly's)

We spent one day with Angie Kelly and her kids. We played in her back yard and made it to 'This is the place' a monument park where President Brigham Young poined to when he came to the valley with the early latter day saint pioneers to indicate they had arrived to the place of his vision. It was a really nice place where we learned about those days (1850s), and where the kids met a real Indian girl, rode a fun train, and rode horses. It was a fun though very hot day! Thank you Angie for taking and spending your day with us, it was so much fun!