Our Morning Hike

Starts Out Easy

We took a guided hike this morning to the Petrified Sand Dunes in Snow Canyon.  Our stellar guides were Bill and Kim and they kept us laughing and hiking.  Kim is half mountain goat and full Norwegian and half Hawaiin and Part Japanese, but we out classed him when we let him know that we are the Great, Great, Great and Great Grand daughters of Ebenezer Bryce of the Bryce Canyon Fame!  Ha, Ha, Kim you can't one up the Beagles Clan!  Bill was good at helping us get the best photos and if we wanted to take it easy we could drop back with him and he would never leave us behind!  Kim on the other hand rarely rested!   Between the two of them we had quite an enertaining and long (Thanks to Kim) hike.  He didn't want us to be bored waiting for the slower people to catch up with us so he took us on a whole other hike while we waited for them!  But it was worth it cause we got to see those mormon petrogliphs written in axle grease! 

Spa Weekend: The Beginning of a Very Long and Cherished Tradition 2010

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I wish I had the words to tell you how much I love this Spa Weekend that Amanda and I are enjoying.....and we really wish that Liz had been able to come because we miss her and we know how much she would have loved this!  Why did I never investigate Spa Resorts in Utah before?   It only took a google search to revel that we have one of the top ten best spas in the states, right here in humble little St George!  Oh the bliss we have found here....it's a little bit of heaven.  For now enjoy the pictures cause I have no time to write about it, I'm too busy relaxing and I must get back to it.  I'm only posting pics for Brad and Mackay so they know that we are still alive.......we haven't had time to call.....way tooooo busy having fun!

Martenson Family Reunion: Park City 2010

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At the Top!

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Off We Go!

Just a little blurp about the Martenson Family Reunion this year, we loved being there and visiting with everyone.  We loved the extra days we got to spend with Christena and Tyler and kids and loved having Mom and Carol for the week after.  We love getting together with the family and can't wait until next year when we get to do it in Idaho.  Hope you are all as excited as me and Sarah B!  We will be busy planning, planning, and planning until then.

The Summer Has Blown By Us Part 3: Our Savannah Smiles

The oldest house in Savannah The Herb House I really liked the name!

It was my idea for the walking tour

Some people wanted it to be a sitting tour!

The Town Hall

Dinner with the FAM!

Christopher & Nadia!  So Cute!

A really old house tour!  

Famous Savannah Ice Cream Leopalds!

Tybee Island Beach!

Ahh they still like to make sandcastles!

The walking Ghost Tour

The soaking wet aftermath!

Yep!  Completely Drenched!

Spending some time with Chris and Nadia was the main focus of our trip to Georgia and so we were so happy to finally catch up with them on Monday night.  We met for dinner at Carver's Restaurant and enjoyed a delicious meal and good conversation.  For the most part anyway.......sometimes I wonder if my whole family will EVER be able to behave completely when they are together!  It was great to have everyone together again.  We loved hearing all the news about what Nadia has been up to and what Chris has been doing.

The next day we hopped over to the beach via Tybee Island.  It was a great beach and we had fun hopping waves and playing and just being all together again. 

That night we opted for the Ghost Tour of Savannah......which went very well until we experience the Rain of Savannah!  Holy Crap!  And just so you know, I am originally from Seattle and I thought I knew rain but never have I ever experienced anything like this down pour.  It was a walking tour so we had no car to hide in and the kids and I decided to stick it out.....pretty much everyone else bailed on the tour except Me, Liza, Amanda and Mackay (Brad bailed and went to pickup Chris and Nadia from their river trip) and two other brave ladies.  This was a huge down pour, with huge drops of rain and keep in mind the 100% humidity we already had going on in about 90 degree temperatures.  Whew!  It was something everyone should experience once.....sort of like a cross between a sauna and a tidal wave!  By the time we got back to the hotel I literally had to peel my clothes off and everything was completely soaked!  Amazing, fun, memorable for sure! 

We sure enjoyed our visit to the beautiful city of Savannah!  Loved being with all of our kids!  What a great trip!  Enjoy the pictures!

The Summer Has Blown By US! Whooooooshhhhh! Part 2

We were hap, hap, happy we chose Mrs. Wilkes

Food!

The next leg of our trip took us to Savannah, Georgia. We had decided to meet Chris and Nadia here rather than going to Atlanta so that we could all see something new. I was so glad to have the experience of going to Savannah. It is a cute little southern town with lots of southern charm and a big dose of historic beauty.

Liz & me standing in line for Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House Restaurant

Brad was our hero and arrived early to get a good place in line!

On Monday, the day that the girls had arrived, we went to experience some down home southern cooking at Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House.  The experience begins early in the morning as you have to line up and wait your turn to get in.  The line on most days stretches around the block.  Luckily the street is shady with all those big oak trees and they serve ice water while you wait.

Inside they seat you at a big table with other guests and when you arrive there are serving dishes of every souther dish you can imagine.  Black eyed peas (which were my favorite), cabbage, okra, baked beans, creamed corn, creamed spinach and the list goes on and on. Then once you are seated and drinks have been served they bring out big platters of fried chicken and hot biscuits and corn bread.   Yum!

So much food!

The Summer Has Blown By US! Whooooooshhhhh!

Summer seems to be blowing by us at light speed this year. It is already half way through August and we are wondering how we will bear to send the kids (oh, I guess it is kid now that Mackay is the only one left in high school) back to school. So what is it we have been doing with our summer you might ask? Well, here is a couple of posts to give you a taste of what we are doing and where we have been!

We had a lovely whirl wind tour of Richmond Virginia to visit Sara and James and the rest of the Perry clan. They are settling in to the new mission home and getting used to living in another state, with a very different life style. Enjoy some of our pictures to get a taste of where they are and what their new home looks like. We really loved being able to see them and spend some time getting to know the life style of a Mission President. We recommend a trip out to see them some time in the next three years, we are definitely planning to go back and partake of all the rich history in Richmond, VA.

The living room at the Mission Home

Family Room of the Mission Home

Lovely Accomodations

Breakfast!

Sara & Karen

Brad & Mackay in front of the Mission Home

We visited downtown Richmond and it's Civil War Center

Walking across the bridge, me and Eliza!

We had lunch at a local diner!  Cheers!

The Great Day Has Arrived.....Aaron Monte Stout has returned with honor!

The Steagles!  (Stouts + Beagles)

Old Friends!

Jacob & Aaron

Carol and Aaron

We had a great day today attending my nephew Aaron's Homecoming. He has returned from the El Salvador mission after serving for 2 years!

Last Tuesday a crowd of us greeted him at the airport and it was so fun to see him after all this time. He definitely has an accent, can hardly speak english, hardly anything but the clothes on his back and a smile as big as all of south america! We were all crying and laughing and hugging and laughing and crying...it was fantastic! When we arrived back at the Stout's, I noticed as Aaron walked in he looked down at the carpet and he rubbed his shoes against it and looked down at it again and he began to cry. Jeanette came and gave him a hug and said, "You're home!" Later he said that there is no carpet in El Salvador, everything is tile. We hung out for a while and ate Death Brownies (Aaron's requested dessert) and heard stories about his mission. We got to see the presents he brought home to his family. Around 9:30pm the Stake President came over to release him from his mission and he asked Aaron to bear his testimony to his family. He said it would be hard and could he do it in spanish. The Stake President nodded and so we got to hear his testimony in spanish and then he translated it to english. It was a very touching and humble testimony.

Today we got to go and hear him speak in church. It was very exciting to see that this was not the boy who had left two years ago. He definitely had experienced a change and his talk was about the tender mercies he had experienced as a missionary. He closed with his testimony in spanish.

We of course celebrated with food and fun conversation at the Stout's. We were lucky to have Mom and Carol there. Also one of Randy's mission companions and his family came all the way from Fillmore to be there. It was a good day....glad to have Aaron home, grateful for his safe arrival and so fun to share with family on a day like today!