Cousin Camp July 2023

Because Jace had FSY  in Flagstaff for a week and Ryan had a High Adventure Hike with our Young Men church group the same week, I decided it was time for the girls to hit the road and visit cousins in St. George, so we had a Cousin Camp while the boys were away. 

We had so much fun!!

It started with me booking a private cottage at Stucki Farms in St George.  I love this place and their darling cottages!  They are new and come in various sizes depending on your group size and are well maintained, cutely decorated, and have the perfect location.  I got one big enough to accommodate cousins!  The rooms have bunkbeds and games and the pools there are a blast!   

Spa night!  The nails got painted.

 

Cousin sleep over in matching PJs!

Game room upstairs. 

Since we couldn't stay indoors all week, we made a wish list of things to do.  Tubing the Virgin River  made the list!  It was SO fun for Calista and I!  No one else seemed to love it as much as we did!

My sister, Malynne was a good sport!!

She turned 70 in June and still decided she'd give the river a go!  On one of several occasions that she ended up high centered on river rocks and I scrambled over to help her, she may or may not have yelled " I hate this da%$@%$# River!"  I have never laughed so hard!  It was hysterical. 

The tubes were super cozy!  And like I said, the river was super rocky!

This is my sister, Calista, at the river's edge. 

This is the lazy river at Stucki farms.  Its one of our favorite pools there. 

This is my cousin Cragun, with his wife Sarah and their daughter Rhiannon. 

We spent hours in the lazy river.  I was so enthralled by it that I called a pool company in Kingman when I got home and had them design us one for our land.  I really want to build a super awesome pool out there for friends and family to enjoy.   The Dr has said --no!  He insists we build a home out there first. Why must he be so practical?

Malynne with her daughter in law and granddaughter. 

Calista driving her Honkin' Van.  It's a 14 passenger van.  It was the perfect way to transport all the cousins.  She's had this vehicle for 2 decades and I have tons of memories in that van. I really wanted to discover Toquerville Falls on this trip.  We gave it a really good try, but we were not successful. The road was too severe.  SO rocky.  We got stopped by a guy in a Razor that told us to turn around.  We'd never make it with our tires he said.  

It was disappointing.  But we stopped at Wendys on the way home and when we pulled into Calista's driveway, her back tire was already nearly flat. It would have been a really bad decision to drive it for 6 miles on rough roads to those falls in the middle of the day in 113 degree July heat.  

So we went to the City Center splash pad park and played in the water there and stopped for a treat at Judds Old Fashioned Ice Cream and Candy Shoppe!!  Love that place!!

St George has the best parks.  They have designed a magnificent town.  Look at this water creek kids can play in next to the splash pad. 

The camp was so fun and great memories were made!!  We hope it becomes a tradition in years to come!

On a side note, we did return to St George a few weeks later and Ryan got us to Toquerville Falls!  It was a treacherous 2 hour drive going super slow in a rental SUV .  I had to get out and walk almost the whole way.  My job was to guide through the dips in the road and over the sharp rocks. We almost got high centered a few times. The town in behind me in this photo.  That is how far up the mountain we have climbed.  We still had a ways to go at this point in the drive.  But the view was super pretty and it gives you an idea of how rough the road was. 

Once we made it there, there were some pools we could jump in and we swam for about an hour. It was a pretty cool and beautiful little spot in the middle of the desert. Such a long drive there and back and almost worth it.  We won't do it again unless we rent Razors. 

July is my favorite month of the YEAR!  I completely love summer. The sunshine and warmth invigorates me and takes away my anxiety. Hurry back July. 

Family Photos!

Kjersti was a baby and we lived in Iowa when we last had a professional photographer take family photos!  

That was 9 years ago!

Part of the reason has been--we live on a desert island so to speak.  We're in the middle of nowhere in a small town in Arizona, and photographers aren't an easy find.

But we found Melissa, who lives near us.  She majored in fine arts in college and now has a studio of her own!  And -- she is good!

We took these photos on our 60 acres of land. Sixty acres you say?  That is a bit of land!  Yes, it is, and no, we are not developers, and don't plan to be. But we did get 2 goslings during the COVID lockdown--(because everyone should get goslings during COVID).  

Well, as I'm sure you guessed,  these goslings are now geese, and not just regular geese, but members of the family.  They are loud and obnoxious and hilarious, and Jace and I and Grammy Jill (Ryan's Mom) love and adore them.  The rest of my clan--barely tolerate them.  

 Dr. Swigert wasn't loving them pooping on his back patio and swimming in his pool anymore.  He was OVER it.   So, we did the simple thing - we bought land,  lots of land - and drilled a well,  a deep, expensive well, - because it's the desert,  and water isn't easy to find.  Then we put up a fence, not just any fence,  a coyote proof fence, then  we built a pond,  a 10,000 gallon pond with a super duty filter, because geese poop A LOT.  Then we built  a goose house,  a cute goose house with windows and shutters, because that's the bare minimum of what every goose requires, -or maybe that is just what Swigert, royalty geese require??

I do still miss them coming up to my back door--- and knocking on the glass window with their beaks so I'll spoil them with my romaine lettuce. 

Now, back to the photos.  Here is the whole clan!   Oh how I love my peeps! Check out the view behind us!   I do hope to one-day build a dream home on this land, that overlooks the town.  It's so serene and gorgeous!  And yes, I'll have a glass backdoor again so my geese can visit me. 

Here are the kids.  Kjersti, age nine, is a violinist.  She has studied 5 years. She's beginning to really sound good and is level 5 Suzuki.  Between me and you--that's really good for her age. She has a wonderful teacher, that is also demanding.  She averages 2 hours of practicing per day. Pretty good for a 9 year old. 

Jace, age 16 is a cellist--

and a good one at that.  His level of commitment to his instrument comes and goes.  High school kids are busy and homework takes away from practice time. Unfortunately.  Jace is witty.  He says funny, clever things.  He is a delight.  He's rarely moody, and is just an easy teenager.  He is solid and steady.  He isn't swayed by the foolish whims of the world. 

One thing I love and admire about our kids is their kindness to each other.  They are not mean or selfish with each other. 

All growing up my mom would tell us- "Your  friends will come and go, but you will always have your family."  And I have found that to be true. 

Kjersti is quiet and reserved. She also has a sense of humor and has funny comebacks to her Dads frequent teasing. 

And, I have to say, her violin posture is perfect!!

Jace--with a twinkle in his eye.  He's totally thinking something funny!

Sisters, all you ever need is a sister!

Man, I love my girls!!

This is Madelyn Grace, 13.  (Twelve when we took these phots) She is gorgeous and graceful, and her name suits her.  Years ago, when I was teaching violin in Salt Lake City, before I knew Ryan, I taught a 6 year old violin student, named Gracie.  She would come to lessons with a big bow tied to the side of her head.  It was so cute,   It was then I felt that someday, I would have a Gracie of my own. 

 Gracie is compassionate and caring. She is also an accomplished pianist-she has a lot of natural talent.  Her fluidity and touch on the keys is superb. I love hearing her play pieces like Fur Elise and Nocturne by Paderesky. 

Here is the Dr.  - the man who holds us all together.  He lightens the mood at our house when the pressure is on to get prepared for music lessons and he makes sure we have fun.  His goal is to make lasting family memories. 

Here are the girls sitting near the waterfall of the goose pond.

Meet Charlie, now age two.  He hates the geese.  They chase him and bite him. 

Since we couldn't haul Gracies piano out into the desert for photos, because we aren't the Piano Guys, we brought the dog!

She adores him! He's the perfect companion for her.  Gracie has a big heart, and she can pour her heart into raising Charlie. 

And here is my boy--affectionately called Buddy Boy - with his most sophisticated and regal goose--Ducky!!   Oh how I love that bird and boy!  I never thought I'd love a goose--but that goose has my heart. 

She's loud and protective, and mean to everyone except her select few!!

And as you can see,  by the way she's nestled into her boy's lap,  Jace has her stamp of  approval!!

Chicago!! The Windy City! And my birthday.

 

Front room of Oppenheimer gallery--with my bestie Jen and her husband Mike!

For my birthday this August, the Doctor asked me if he could take me to a nice resort spa in Sedona, AZ.  Sedona is known for its art and beauty and is a vacation destination. 

Me with Joel Oppenheimer

I thought about it, and although it did sound lovely,  I felt a trip to Chicago would fit the bill--better then a massage, facial, and pedicure!  You see, I had discovered an artist I was interested in.  John James Audubon--painter of the Birds of America. 

Ryan and I were in the throws of building  his third surgery location in Lake Havasu City. I had racked my mind and the internet searching for inspiration and ideas about how to decorate his office.  I knew the color would be soft blue, something calming.  I was inspired by my good friend, Sara Peterson, who is Del Parsons daughter.  She lives here by me. Del parson is a well known artist for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Because of Sara, I wanted to make this office location unique--an art gallery of sorts. 

Because of her gallery and frame shop here locally, I discovered John James Audubon. I thought it would be super cool to display his works throughout the office.  So when patients came to see Ryan, they also filled their hearts with images of beautiful art. 

The Oppenheimer art Gallery in Chicago is known for its collection of  Audubon work, and it has the exclusive rights to make high quality reproductions of his works from the Field Museum.   I wanted/needed to spend a day there!!

An added bonus-- our best friends live 4 hours outside of Chicago in Indiana. We could see them too!!

I looked at airlines tickets--pretty pricey to take 5 people.  I texted Paul--our pilot on Mondays for violin/piano lessons--"Paul--do you feel like flying us to Chicago over the weekend of my birthday?!"  Fortunately, he LOVES flying--esp. to new places.  He cleared his scheduled.  

I have to say, flying privately is the only way to go.  The Las Vegas airport is truly a headache.  It takes us 4 hours to get from our front door to the gate.  So I mapped out the trip-we could fly our own plane -to Chicago in 6-7 hours.  DONE!! Taking our own plane. We have a nice, pressurized plane.  It's a blessing for our family, living in a remote, small town. 

After flying all Friday afternoon and into the night, we arrived in Chicago late!! But we were up and ready to go into the gallery by  11AM. Poor Gracie was overcome by the heat and humidity.  I call her our polar bear.  She does not do well in the heat.  She loves cold climates. But she was a good sport. But you can see she is not feeling well after the long walk from our hotel to the gallery. 

After a personal tour of the gallery by Joel himself, we got fascinated by his collection of Gould's Hummingbirds.  Ryan and I started looking through many volumes of them. 

After about 3  hours of that the kids were starving!

             Luckily Subway was around the corner.  

            Jen and Mike took them so Ryan and I could finish up. . 

    Ryan did decide to buy some of  Gould's Hummingbirds for his Kingman office.  We also spent some time looking at Audubon.  But there were 431 plates of those and it was too overwhelming.  We decided to spend time on Oppenheimer's website and narrow it down. We probably need 16 for his Lake Havasu office. 

We finished after about 5 hours.  We got there at 11 and the gallery closed at 4 pm on Saturdays. The kids were so patient, and so bored.  But they were good about waiting, so were the Ramseys. (It was almost my birthday after all)

Ryan booked us in a 5 star hotel with a view of the Chicago river.   He loves to spoil us now that he is 100% debt free.  (Thank you Dave Ramsey)

                     After the gallery we had time for some sight seeing.  We went to see the famous shiny bean!

          We're in front of the bean here!  But you can't tell. 

Group picture by the Shiny Bean!  Was so fun to be with the Ramseys.  We live too far apart!

Saw this fountain.   Forgot the name!  Isn't Jace tall?!!  So fun!

We got tired from walking.  It was so hot and humid.  We rode these cool street bikes to dinner on Navy pier.  Chicago style pizza of course. 

It was a pretty long bike ride-so the walk would have been excruciating for us non-pedestrian  types!

Dinner was lovely and Paul-joined us.  My brother in law/pilot.

He said no thanks to the gallery!

Navy Pier.  Tickets to ride the famous Ferris wheel were sold out!! We were surprised and disappointed. 

Navy Pier- lovely in the evening.  Beautiful and cooler. 

After dinner, Jen left because her youngest daughter Felicity had started throwing up at home--so sad, and we had tickets for the Architectural/ firework show- boat ride down the Chicago river. 

                       It was really neat!!

Froggy joined our family on Navy Peir-and had a bubble bath with this cute girl when we got back to the hotel that night. 

Late night movie after the firework show.  We were still on AZ time! So we had a little energy left.

Next day was the sabbath.  We honored it and went to church.  We went on public transportation and the smell of urine was really strong. Gracie was not thrilled!! So funny!  She was hoping we'd use an Uber--but it was $80!  We maybe should have--becuase the train was delayed and we were 15 minutes late. 

The famous Jace squat.  He sits like this when waiting a long time.  And, the train was 15 minutes late. His job was to carry the umbrella. 

We made it!!

After church, we went to see the famous Sears tower. 

Ryans great grandfather and grandfather worked for Sears for years and they were very successful as high up managers for the company. 

                                                                  View from the top!

                  More views form the top!!

             Jace is still in his squat holding the umbrella!

My handsome Dr.  He loves to spend time with his family!  And we love that he loves us!

The view was really gorgeous. 

Monday we headed home. So a short trip. Left home on Friday.   I have to say flying in our own plane with our own pilot is the only way to travel.  I'm completely spoiled.

When we stop at small airports to fuel, they always have complementary snacks to enjoy! So fun and personable. There's a whole family out there for the General Aviation world!! 

                            We don't have a super fast plane--yet!!  So 6 hours and 2 fuel stops later--we landed in Kingman AZ.  And we all agreed --it was a really fun trip!!  

And we're going again in February!  We have loose ends to tie up with the art gallery. Turns out we can't make selections over the internet!!  

Look at this James Audubon piece--it finally arrived in November from the Oppenheimer gallery.  This is what I went to buy for my birthday! Its his Trumpeter Swan!  I love it because the face on this swan depicts mine and Jaces  beautiful and beloved goose Ducky!