Ollantaytambo 4/16/07

Let's see...one of the last stops of the day was Ollantaytambo. What a very cool place. I think I have the picture in order from first to last taken (I took over 80).

I love the shots that we take ourselves. Here we are with the ruins in the back.

Here is the first set of steps we had to climb. Not so bad even though we are at about 8000 ft. above sea level (not the highest we went).

A view of the town below about halfway up the stairs.

Me partially up the stairs (I think Garth wanted a break because he sprained his ankle 2 days before we left!) ;-)

How cool is this "chair" formed out of the rock. The cuts are made with incredible precision. It is a truly remarkable sight to behold!

Garth is pointing out the lack of crevass in the stones. There is no space-it is so cool!

I wanted to show the length of this stone that was hewn out of a rock-Garth came up with the idea as to how!

Garth thought a funny face was appropriate!

A view of the town below from one of the higher steps.

Us taking in the magnificent view and just enjoying the time together!

Pisac 4/16/07

Okay, so on Monday the 16th we headed to the Pisac ruins. Some of my favorite pictures this trip were the ones Garth took of us. Here is one with some of the ruins in the background.

How cool is it that the water still flows through the channels, etc. that it was meant to?
(I LOVED the water features!)

Garth "washing" his hands at the fountain.

All of us-do you see the water flowing to the side?

Did I mention again that I loved the water?

Garth and I. I know I am biased, but he sure is cute! :-)

Cuzco-Here we are! (Monday 4/16)

We flew to Cuzco on Monday. Here are Garth and I at the front desk of the Terra Andina-our hotel in Cuzco. Isn't the carving beautiful?
See the next post for our ruins adventures from the same day!

Sunday-Church & Mission Reunion Fireside

Sunday we went to church at the Barrio La Molina (La Molina Ward) and later that evening we went to Garth's mission reunion fireside. When we first heard of the fireside a few months ago we thought that there was no chance that we would be able to go. Luckily, airmiles and Jenna & Casey helped and so we made the decision to come. Garth's Mom & Dad found out and it made four! :-) His mission reunion has been such a joy for him (& us). We have been able to meet many of the missionaries he served with as well as knew.
Below you will find pictures of us with his Pdte. Alvaradejo & his wife at the end of the fireside!

Garth with some of the missionaries from his reunion.

Renando, Flor, Garth, & myself. I have had a great time getting to know them even with a language barrier! Renando and Flor are truly wonderful people! :-)

After the La Molina Ward met Garth and I hung out waiting to see an old missionary friend. While we waited I practiced my limited Spanish and got to know some of the kids from one of the Santa Patricia barrios.

Above is myself and Solange. She is an Abejita in the Mujeres Jovenes program. I had a great time getting to know her and appreciate her patience with my Spanish.

This is Estefan. When I saw these eyes I melted. He is too cute! He gave me kisses on the cheek and a huge hug. I am a lucky girl! :-)

This is Arturo. I had the greatest time watching him play with his 3 older brothers and sister. His Mom & Dad spoke a little English, so it was fun for me to ask questions and practice a little Spanish. We congratulated his Mom & Dad on being pregnant with their 5th child-not everyone is as crazy as we are! ;-)

Garth's Mission Reunion-Saturday

Garth had his mission reunion Saturday, April 14th. He had a great time seeing people that he served with, taught, areas he served, changes in the areas and in Lima. Lima is a wonderful city that is full of life and I have been so impressed with how kind the people are. Below we are with Garth's Mission President, Pdte. Alvaradejo & his wife.

The caterers preparing our lunch.

Me being served my lunch-Seco de Cordero. It was so good! It is one of the dishes I hadn't had before, but is very common in Peru. I loved it!

The Norte-Americanos! Garth. Lance Miller, & Tony Granados

Some of the missionaries from the time! And some others that came to reunite!

Museo de la Nacion

One of the coolest museums that we went to on Friday was the above museum. It was totally cool! Below is one of the first mural that we saw-it depicts and ancient ruin in its full glory.

Garth and I were thinking that trying to copy the faces would be a good idea-not sure if it was, but we had fun! :-)

I didn't actually touch the pot (Against the rules), but how cool are all of these pots?

Here is an ancient version of a doll-I thought my girls would like a picture!

One word came to mind when I saw this-OUCH! Beautiful, but OUCH! :-)

Kuo Wha-Lunch :-)

Okay, our first full day in Lima we had lunch at a buffet restaurant that our taxi driver, Miguel recommended. Mom and Dad went for the Chinese portion and Garth and I headed out for the anticuchos (which they were out of) and ended up with peruvian beans (I am not sure of the official name and Garth is in the shower), a thin steak that you put on a garlic/cilantro sauce with a little aji, and some rice. Yummy! Then we had a little pineapple chicken. For dessert we had flan (I had 2 bites-Garth the rest), and these so yummy little pastries with manjar blanco in the middle and a bruleed honey on top. They were probably 1 1/2 in. long and oh so good! Here we are on the walkway to the restaurant as we were headed back out to the cab.

Museo Rafael Larco Herrera

This is the second museum that we visited on Friday. Here are Garth, Dad, and I in front of the museum.
A quartz necklace I thought was pretty. (very fine workmanship for SO long ago!)

You can't see the engraving very well, but it is extremely detailed. The museums contain a lot of gold items from Pre-Inca and Inca times. Precious metals were in abundance here and they have the artifacts to prove it!

There has been so much pottery uncovered here in Peru. I really liked this guy's smile. Of course we don't know if these pots, etc. were designed to look like someone, but if they were I bet this guy would have told great jokes!

There were mutliple varieties of bouganvillas on the walkway up to the museum. They reminded me of two of my favorite people, Bill and Jerry Wade, because they have the same flowers in front of their house.

Peru-Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Arqueologia e Historia

Our first day in Lima we visited museums. For some reason I didn't get any pictures of Garth and I at this museum (I am horrible about remembering to take pictures of us, but I am really trying to be better!). Below are a mummy and skulls that show where brain surgery was performed-we thought they were pretty cool! :-)

Easter

Below is a picture of the kids right before they started hunting for eggs! Obviously they decided against their nicer clothes. Since I am a bit worn out from the past week with laundry, getting ready to leave town, etc. I was fine with their lack of what I would normally call appropriate Easter attire (although I did flinch internally). The point is that they had fun and that their Uncle Jonathan did a great job hiding the eggs! Trevon found the golden egg with $10!!

We had Broc, Joanna, Brady, Jaleen, Jonathan, Jenna, Casey, plus Garth, myself, and kids here for dinner. This year was pretty laid back. We enjoyed the day with our family! We, as always, missed those that weren't here and hope that all of them had a great day as well.

What a blessing this season is to remember our Savior and the fact that he died for us!

March Madness at the Isoms

So, Jenna & Casey are in charge of the March Madness brackets for them and their friends each year. Since they were here, the brackets went up on our wall. On another wall in our family room went the Garth and Janelle Isom family bracket (Garth and I plus kids-Jenna & Casey helped those that couldn't read by saying the two names and then letting them pick.). We had a great time finding out who won and probably watched more basketball in March than Garth and I had watched in our whole marriage combined. The best part was that we liked it and really enjoyed the games!

In our family bracket I won with an "oh-so-huge" score of 1000!! Yeah for me, the huge first-timer! Trevon came in second with 770 and the rest of the family came after us! I actually did a little research-not much-but Trev did pretty well for just picking by the sound of the names! :-) Anyway, here is what we had on the walls-we had so much fun that we had to post it!

**We can't wait to do it again next year!**

Garth and Janelle family (above)

Casey, Jenna, Jason, Ashley, Chris, Nartker, Melody, and friends (below)

Trevon & Casey

I came out of the house and saw Trevon & Casey and just needed to take a picture. How cute do they look? Casey was helping Shelby work on her swing for softball, so Trevon decided he needed to "hang out with the coach!"

Trevon's Easter "Bonnet" for School

Trevon's school had an Easter bonnet parade. Me being the "great" Mom that I am put off doing his hat. Not that it mattered since he wanted a Star Wars hat anyway and I could put that together pretty quick. Our biggest obstacle was finding a hat we didn't mind gluing and stapling!! So, here is Trevon's Star Wars "bonnet." You should have seen some of the hats-I think some of the parents/kids spent HOURS on them! It was pretty amazing. Below is Trevon and his great friend Davis (who also has a Star Wars figures hat-they are two peas in a pod), and some better views of Trevon's hat!
(Thanks to Garth for unknowingly donating one of the free hats that he gets from suppliers! We know he would have given freely had we asked! ;-) Next time we'll do that!)

Preschool Easter Party

Starlee had her preschool Easter party the other day. We had a fun time coloring, decorating Easter cupcakes, playing, paiting suncatchers, decorating our Easter bags, and ending with an Easter egg hunt. Ryden had a lot of fun joining in on some of the fun!
Her preschool friends are cuties!