Team JESSICANNY!

Winter & Spring Adventures

2011-06-05T16:09:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I asked Jessica "Have you done anything on blog since the Bolivia posts?"
She replied "Nope"
"Are you planning on doing another post?"
"I think you should do it"

So once again here I am doing the very un-husband-like activity of updating the family blog. I find this somewhat ironic because Jessica often spends hours a week reading and commenting on all our family and friends' blogs (as she does while I write this), yet she is unwilling to work on our own. [Here, I (Jessica) will interject and say that today was one of the MONTHLY or so occasions in which I spent about an hour checking blogs, not weekly multiple hour sessions... :) And that grad school is quite consuming physically, mentally, emotionally, and time-wise, which is why I often feel I have nothing left for blogging! Thank goodness I have such a wonderful husband who is willing to take the reigns while I'm MIA]

I'll start by saying that most of you have children who are always doing cute things that provides ample material to blog about. Jessica and I however are a party of two so our blog lacks cuteness and the only blog-worthy events in our life usually involve some type of outdoor adventure. Consequently I'll give a brief update of some of the fun activities Jess and I have done over the past few months.

(1) Cycling
Many of you know that cycling is one of the things Jessica and I most enjoy doing together. Unfortunately this spring has been uncharacteristically wet and cold which has decreased our cycling episodes. Nonetheless here are some pics of one of our favorite places to cycle, Little Cottonwood Canyon.

Half way up Little Cottonwood

Near the top, still tons of snow for later May

Give you an idea of how much snow was still up there

(2)Danny's 25th Birthday

Without a doubt Jessica is the best birthday planner ever. This year was no exception. She started off the day with her gift to me- hang gliding. This had always been a dream of mine so when Jessica surprised me by telling me we were going to do it, I was very excited and a little nervous. This is an excerpt from my journal on the experience:

" The wind took us higher and higher , like a hawk in an updraft. I have always dreamed of flying, and this was the closest thing to it. In fact my instructor was constantly looking for clues to where the wind was, including the flight patterns of the nearby birds. When he’d see the birds rise in the air, he headed straight to them to do exactly what they were doing. It was indescribably awesome.

After a few minutes the wind died down and we had to come closer into the mountain side to search for more updrafts. That too was an exhilarating if not outright scary experience. We would swing out wide into the air and head straight for the hillside, only to level out right before hitting and swooping across the plain. Jessica later told me we were so close to the hillside that the tip of the wing was inches from scraping."

Lift off

All in all, it was an incredible experience. Unfortunately the winds were too low for Jess to go that day, so she had to reschedule. After hang gliding, we went cycling together and that night Jessica invited a group of friends over to play one of my favorite games, Mafia. Jess turned the event into a 1920's speakeasy/mafia party so everyone came up dressed for the occasion.

(4) Bryce Canyon & Escalante
For memorial day weekend Jessica and I headed off to Bryce Canyon National Park. This is a place both Jessica and I had been to often when we were young, but it had been years since we had been back. Once again, the park didn't fail to amaze.

We were very excited to be at Bryce

Bristlecone Point

Calf Creek Fall with our friends Daron and Dani Bree

A very cold plunge

Bolivia Part IV: Santa Cruz and Samaipata

2011-01-17T20:47:00.000-08:00

Our flight from USA flew direct to Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz was the main city of my mission. It is the richest city of Bolivia (although the wealth is concentrated among a small elite class), and also has much more people of European decent.

While there Jess and I were able to visit a few families I knew as well as spend some time site-seeing. We visited the zoo, toured the main cathedral and ate of several hip little cafes around the city's center plaza.

The Jimenez family who invited us to lunch and took us around the city

A classic Bolivian scene- modern buses and cars next to horse drawn carriages

View of Santa Cruz from the Cathedral's tower

Jessicanny in the main plaza

After spending some time in Santa Cruz, Jess and headed back into the mountains to the town of Samaipata. Samapaita is a small town at a crossroads in Bolivia where the Quechua speaking people from the mountains, the Guarani speaking people from the Chaco region, and the Spanish Mestizos from Santa Cruz all mix. It is also a staging point for some awesome Incan ruins as well as to Amboro national park.

The town is quite quaint and peaceful and Jess and I spent a whole morning sitting on the balcony of our hostal watching the villagers bustle around the streets. We also went up to some impressive Incan ruins called El Fuerte. El Fuerte was a stronghold for the Incans against the Jungle cultures to the east. It was also religious site with numerous temples.

road up to Samaipata

Danny at El Fuerte

Street view at Samaipata

View from our balcony at Samaipata

One of our favorite experiences in Bolivia was a hike we did near Amboro National Park. This area reminds me a lot of Zions National Park in southern Utah, expect of course the Bolivian version is much more tropical. Our hike first took us past several impressive waterfalls. We climbed up around the last waterfall and from then on we made our own trail, first walking up the creek bed and then following a ridge up into the mountains. I also discovered that there is quicksand in Bolivia. I stepped in some and immediately sunk to my knees before being able to scramble out before sinking more. Needless to say, it was quite frightening.

The view from the top of our hike was incredible. Best of all is there was absolutely no one else around.

Danny embracing the mountains

Jessica eloquently posed in front of a waterfall

The only visitor along the last 3 hours of our hike was this cow

hiking up the ridge

what a view!

a very passionate and secluded kiss

a very graceful toe-touch off a waterfall

a not-so-gracefull toe-touch off a waterfall

more cows on the highway then cars

Overall, our time in Bolivia was fantastic and nearly everything went to plan despite how rugged and backward the country is. Ironically, once we returned to America we were plagued by problems getting home. We first flew direct to Miami from Bolivia. We then supposed to go through Atlanta, but snow caused that airport to close for two days, which gave us a two-day delay in Miami. Fortunately, of all the places in America to be delayed in January, Miami may be the best. We got a hotel in South Beach and spent all day on the beach there.

After our delay we got a flight to Detroit where plane delays caused us to miss our connecting flight. We spent a not so glamorous night in Detroit before finally getting home.

beach in Miami

Bolivia Part III: Guayaramerin and Riberalta

2011-01-17T20:06:00.000-08:00

After our riotous time in La Paz, we took a flight out to northeastern Bolivia to the jungle towns of Guayaramerin and Riberalta where I served over a year of my mission. The flight was impressive both as we cruised through ice-capped mountain peaks of the Andes and later as we flew above huge winding rivers flowing north to the Amazon.

Guayaramerin is a remote town of about 40,000 people on the border with Brazil. The town exists because Bolivian goods are super cheap for Brazilians, who cross the river daily to shop and then return to Brazil.

Riberalta has about 80,000 people and is growing like crazy as people from the jungle villages pour into the town looking for work. Every year 1/3 of the cities population go out into the jungle for three months a year, collecting "brazilian" nuts that fall from massive trees. For the rest of the year the people work in factories cracking the nuts. If you every eat a brazilian nut, chances are it came from Riberalta!

Once in Guayaramerin, we immediately began walking the dirt streets of my old areas, looking for people I taught and for families I knew. We had pretty good success, and found several families and people I baptized as well as many other families I knew well.

We also had fun staying at a eco-resort, complete with private lagoon and mini-zoo with toucans, macaws, and various other jungle creatures. Jessica also got her first taste of the jungle bugs-- mosquitos so big that they bite through socks and pants! One afternoon we also took a boat ride across the Mamore river into Brazil. Unfortunately the Brazilian town of Guajara-mirim isn't very interesting so we only stayed about half an hour there. But at least Jess can say she'd been in Brazil!

the Andes!

winding Rio Mamore

the Melgarejo family who I baptized

typical road in my old mission area

typical house in my old area

crossing the river into Brazil

Jessica in Brazil!

Erik Montano, another person I baptized

Danny holding a Macaw that tried to eat anything it could get its beak on

More people I taught

Jessica's first encounter with a pet monkey

Member of the church in Riberalta who took us on his motorcyle to help find people I knew

The Melgar family

Jessica's very gracefull swing into the laguna

Danny's not so gracefull swing

Entire Melgarejo family at the eco-resort. Jessica felt very tall in Bolivia.

Bolivia Part II: Biking Down the Ruta de Muerte

2011-01-17T19:27:00.000-08:00

Jessica found some time to write the following description of Part II

On our last day in the La Paz area we went on an excursion we will never forget. As most of you know, Danny and I are cycling enthusiasts and can't get enough of the thrill of riding up or down a mountain on our bikes. WELL, we found the perfect opportunity to do so in Bolivia! There is a road there going through the mountains which was well known as the "road of death" in Spanish. It is a gravel/dirt road, most of the time only wide enough for one car, which snakes around the side of the mountain. It has cliffs with sometimes over 1,000 ft. drop off the side, and while it was in operation around 26 cars would fall off the edge per year. To get an idea of what it was like when cars were trying to use the road, look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA-MVlJQX9k. In 2007 they built an alternate road, which normal traffic now uses, and the "ruta de muerte" is currently only used by tourists, mostly on bikes.

We found a group who did mountain bike tours on this road, and who offer equipment and even take photos for you. They drive you up in the mountains to about 15,000 ft in elevation, and then you bike downhill descending 12,000 ft in elevation while winding around the mountain in this gorgeous canyon until you finally end at an elevation of 3,000 ft. During the first part you are on the main finished (asphalt) road, but then you switch over to the gravel "ruta de muerte," which is why you need mountain bikes rather than road bikes. When you start, you are so high that there is hardly any vegetation, but the ecosystem changes around you bit by bit as you descend through multiple layers of clouds and down the mountain, ultimately ending up surrounded by the lush vegetation of the jungle, biking through and next to waterfalls. It was indescribable, and one of our favorite experiences we've ever had!

Around the top of the barren mountains where we began

Starting to approach one layer of clouds. You can begin to see a little more vegetation

And even more vegetation... You can see the road we took going along the side of the mountain

The 8 of us in front of one of the waterfalls

All of us at the edge of one of the cliffs along the road

Danny and I beneath a waterfall on the road

Pictures of the path with more waterfalls. If you click on either of these pictures to see them larger you can see us on our bikes on the path. But as the pictures are so far away, you can barely see us at this small size.

Nearing the end

Danny and I near the end of the trip


A view overlooking some of the valley while going back up in the bus

Above is a video of us riding through one of the waterfalls on the path. Our guide is the first cyclist, Danny is the second, and I am the third.

Bolivia Part I: La Paz and Isla del Sol

2011-01-17T19:12:00.000-08:00

Today I venture into ground few husbands have dared enter. In all my browsing of family blogs, not once have a ever seen a post by the husband. I have seen husbands contribute to political or sports blogs, but a cute little couple blog? It is almost unheard of. Well, go ahead and call the blog police because I am about to shatter all the blog etiquette and rules.

Circumstances call for this etiquette lapse, because Jessica and I recently returned from perhaps our greatest adventure yet. As you will soon discover this adventure was extended beyond our plans which meant that Jessica missed two weeks of her master's program. Consequently, she is swamped with homework, which makes life boring for me the husband, which means its my turn to blog. So here it goes. . .

Our adventures began when Jessica called me one day and said
"hey Danny let's go to Bolivia next week"
I responded "Jessica, you are crazy, there is no way we can put a trip like that together in so little time"
She insisted "yeah, but I know we've been wanting to do it for so long, and I think this may be our last chance for years. Why don't you investigate to see if it is possible."
I said "okay, I'll see what I can do," and ten days later we boarded a plane headed to South America.

Our first stop was in Bolivia's capitol city La Paz. This is a crazy city, built in a canyon at 11,000 ft with 20,000 ft peaks rising above. The streets are narrow and steep and the buildings are literally stacked on top of each other up the sides of the canon. Ironically, since its inception, La Paz (the peace in english) has been torn by violence, protests, blockades and strikes. We got a taste of this right as we entered the city from the airport. Two days before we arrived in Bolivia, the Bolivian president raised the price of gasoline 80% (gas was heavily subsidized prior to this increase). This action outraged thousands and they took to the streets and stormed the city's main highway and torched and looted the main toll station. We took the picture below which shows the burned out buildings and shattered windows. Interestingly, this event was featured in an article in The Economist, from which I extracted the picture below.

Our picture two days after the riot

Picture of the rioting action from The Economist

Open air market in front of our hotel

Crazy streets and building built up the slopes

Jessicanny in front of the presidential palace

A little cholita or Bolivian women from the country who still dresses traditionally

After spending some time in La Paz we ventured out to Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world at 12,500 ft. We first visited the city of Copacabana, which is Bolivia's holiest city. Thousands of people a year make pilgrimages to Copacabana to pray to "the virgin" of copacabana, to get their children baptized, or to bless their cars. The latter is quite the sight!

Crossing the lake on a ferry

shoreline of Lake Titicaca

A recently blessed car

From Copacabana we took a boat out to the Isla Del Sol, the island of the sun. This is the Island where the Incan religion believes the sun god and first Incan emperor were born. The entire island is covered in Incan terraces and ruins. The one main town sits ontop a ridge in the middle of the island. From the boat dock, it is an hour hike up ancient Incan stairs to get to the town. There are no vehicles on the island, only llamas and donkeys. At over 13,000 ft elevation, Jessica and I got a little winded, but made it up to our hostal where we had some incredible views of the lake and of a lightning storm that night. The hostal wasn't exactly 5-star quality. Jessica was impressed that I killed 3 spiders and 6 flies upon entering the room. The toilets also took an hour to fill up. So Bolivian! The next morning we explored around the terraces and ruins before heading back to La Paz.

Jess hiking up the incan steps behind two bolivian women

Danny in the town of Yumani

We had to make way for the llama herds

View from our hostal

Double rainbow, oh my gosh, what does this mean?

La isla del arbol solitario

Beach: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2010-08-18T10:44:00.000-07:00

Growing up you could ask any child in the Christensen extended family what the most wonderful time of the year was, and they would most likely NOT say Christmastime. Even above Christmas time in our family was BEACH WEEK! Every year we looked forward to it more than anything else. We would count down the days, and barely believe it when the time actually came!

Now that we're all grown up and many of us have families of our own, it continues to be one of the most wonderful times of the year! This time we spent the week....

Snuggling with nieces and nephews

Playing on the beach with awesome cousins

Making intense chocolate cream filled cupcakes...

for about 70 people...

which were all decorated to look like a beach scene

Playing frisbee

And frisbee 3-flies up with the boys

Setting up and playing beach games

And putting together and flying shark kites

Playing smashball
And playing some more with nieces and nephews

Getting buried with shy nieces who didn't want to do so alone and waiting for our sand-mermaid tail
Swimming with nephews

building insanely high towers with children's blocks
and more insanely high towers

Planning out and making huge sand castles...
Patterned after ancient Mayan ruins

Snuggling and playing with more nieces and nephews
Catching waves on a 2-man blow up raft and laughing hysterically while doing so

Matching with cousins due to a shortage of cute and modest bathing suits (there were many matches!)
And sadly saying goodbye to my dear sister Shelley who lives across the country...

with her adorable family, who I am so glad I got to see, thanks to the beach!
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Duck and Mom and Dad for the wonderful time we had this year! We love you and can't wait for next year!

24th of July

2010-07-25T20:02:00.001-07:00

This year I, Jessica, was able to witness my first Pioneer Day parade! My first summer living in Utah was the first time I remember hearing about this holiday. I was shocked and excited to find out that I had an additional holiday off of work in July, other than the 4th, and then learned that it was for Pioneer Day, the day in which Utahns commemorate the entrance of the Saints into the Salt Lake Valley. In past years I have just celebrated the holiday by using my extra day off to go on some adventure or another. This year, however, I wanted to really experience it for the first time (as far as I can remember), so Danny and I took two of our nephews to go see the parade! There were some pretty incredible floats, and Senators, governors, mayors, the military, police men, and plenty of marching bands and clowns all take part. My personal favorites were the different groups of police men, which would weave in and out of different formations and do tricks on their motorbikes (the first group which all had ridiculous fake mustaches... including the one woman!) and seeing President Uchtdorf. We all loved it, and want to make going together into a tradition!

I have decided that I quite enjoy the 24th of July and all it stands for. It turns our minds and hearts to those who went before us, some our own forefathers, and their physical and spiritual dedication to what they believed in. It helps us to reflect on the hope of new beginnings and the accomplishments of those through all generations of time who venture into the unknown to better themselves, their families, their community, or the world. I am so grateful for the examples of these pioneers, and hope perhaps I can learn a few lessons from them.

The four of us at the parade

The "How to Train Your Dragon" Float

Silver Lake

2010-07-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

Danny had Friday off of work, so we decided to take the morning and hike to Silver Lake up American Fork Canyon. We've been wanting to do so for a while since Bekah and Mark have raved so much about it, and finally figured we had our chance! Well, as you can see from the pictures below, they had good reason to rave.

A view while hiking up to the lake

Once we'd arrived

Us after jumping in... and yes, it was freezing! The only down side to the outing was that Danny had been kind enough to hold my phone but forgot he'd put it in his pocket before he jumped in... so if anyone needs to get a hold of me in the next couple days, you may have to do so through Danny :)

The Happiest Place on Earth... times three!

2010-07-22T09:40:00.001-07:00

I must be living the dream of so many little children around the world, as I have been to Disneyland three times in the last seven months! The first trip was with most of the Wood clan just after the New Year. Everyone was able to come except for the Sorensons, who had family staying with them in Boston and had just had a baby. The second time I was in California meeting my new nephew Luke and helping Bekah, when Momma Paula and Christina came with the kiddos to make up for the trip that they never had after the New Year! And the third time, which was a week ago today, my momma flew me out to help her take Justin and Jamie's kids while their parents were having a few-day getaway befor they move across the country and no longer have babysitters. I have had so much fun playing with all my nieces and nephews in such a magical place, and here are some pictures from our trips, starting with the most recent.

It was so cute how Meg ran straight up to Cinderella and gave her such a tight, full-on hug!

One of the girls' favorite parts! They had so much fun running around and getting wet in the fountains. MY favorite part was seeing Meg's little skirt, weighed down by the water, that just couldn't seem to stay up over her bum and diaper! (Look below)

When asked, Ellie actually said that this was her favorite part of the whole day: Dancing! I'm pretty sure it was Meg's as well! There was quite the dance party going on at California Adventure!

Dancing on shoulders. Look at their happy faces!

TRIP 2

The three sisters, red, blonde, and brown, with all 5 kiddos

With the woman who made it all possible :)

TRIP 3 (New Years): Sadly, we took 2 group pictures, one of which didn't have Danny and I and one which didn't have the Kochs. So they're not in this one, but we had lots of fun playing with them as well!

Waiting for the parade, which was still Christmas themed. Danny and I didn't bring our camera as usual, but this is one we were lucky enough that Grandma took!

Hey... how could we resist at a place so magical?!

Thanks, Mark for working for Disney and making the magic possible! ... or more affordable... :)

And Thanks Mom and Dad for taking all of us and also making it possible!

Farewell Woods and Happy Fourth

2010-07-11T21:46:00.001-07:00

Danny and I had a bittersweet 4th of July. We love the 4th and everything it stands for, but it was also the day we had to say goodbye to Justin and Jamie and their kids as they will be moving away so Justin can get his PhD! We have really loved living close enough to them that we could go over and have dinner, watch movies, or play games with them, and play with their hilarious and adorable children! But we had a great time at their goodbye get-together eating yummy food, talking, and playing.

Below is a picture of us with my grandma and grandpa and cousin Brittany at the get-together. We're so excited that Brittany moved to Salt Lake and we can see her and her cute kids more often! Doesn't she look beautiful?Ah how we will miss the Wood family! Looks like M wants to give the picture-taker a hug! Later that night we had a great time watching fireworks with the Woodbury fam. Here Grandma and Amelia are waiting for the fireworks to start.

Our festive fourth gear, provided by Mama Woodbury

Playing with sparklers with Josh, Melissa and Jesse

Danny's Backflip

2010-07-09T13:55:00.000-07:00

So Danny may not be able to do a backflip on the ground, on a trampoline, or anywhere else, but he can while strapped into a seat of sorts going twenty-something miles an hour across the water!

That contraption he is on, for those of you who have never seen one, is known as an "air chair" or "sky ski."

And yes, he is still working on the landing...

But what an awesome husband I have, huh?

Let There Be Music

2010-07-07T19:45:00.001-07:00

Meet my dear, beloved, new (well, not new, but new to me!) piano! Oh how much I love her, and I have only had her in our apartment for two days! Let me tell you her story. Many, many years ago the Woodburys retrieved her from one of their old hotel properties. She had already been through much in her unknown years; she had pieces of scotch tape holding on some of her laminate and her original color was now a mystery as she had been painted a strange grayish beige hue. They put her in their basement, as they had an incredibly beautiful piano upstairs, and this piano served as a backup when multiple Woodbury children were practicing for their lessons simultaneously. One by one, the children quit their lessons and grew older, but still the piano sat, unplayed and alone in the basement. One day, one of the Woodbury children, who was no longer a child, married a woman whose fingers itched to create music on the keys of a piano. Whenever she visited the Woodburys house, she was drawn, at one point or another, to the beautiful piano on the main floor, and would nourish her soul with song. The Woodburys were quick to notice her musical hunger, and thought upon their lonely piano in the basement below. This gave them an idea: why not give the lonely piano to the woman who had joined their family and who yearned to make music by way of a piano's keys?! When they told her their idea, the woman was so very excited, but she could not yet take the piano as she lived in a house with perilous stairs up which the piano could not climb. A few years later, the Woodburys son and the woman, his wife, moved to a wonderful new apartment. Although there were stairs climbing to their door, these stairs were safe and sturdy. So the woman went to the Woodburys house, sanded the lonely piano's worn exterior, and lovingly painted her a dark, glossy black. She then waited oh so patiently for the time to come when they could transport the piano. Finally, everything was ready. With the help of some of the other Woodbury children now grown whose fingers had once touched those keys, they pushed her onto the trailer, drove her to the apartment, and carefully carried her up the stairs until she finally arrived in her new home. Here she will happily remain, bringing joy, music, and fulfillment to a new household. Thank you so much Mom and Dad Woodbury! I will love her forever as my very own first piano!

New Apartment

2010-07-07T19:19:00.001-07:00

As things are finally getting pretty settled in our apartment, and many of you aren't close enough to see it in person, I thought I would post some pictures of the new place we love so much! Hope you like them, and hope you like it so much it makes you want to come over and visit us! :)

Isn't that a BEAUTIFUL bathtub?? Wow, we feel spoiled!

Nine Fun-Filled Days in Paradise

2010-06-29T22:26:00.001-07:00

This year the Woodbury's were oh-so-generous to take us to Maui for our annual family trip. Everyone was able to come except for Luke, who we missed sorely, and we had such a fun time together in the warm and sunny tropics! We spent half of the time in condos in Napili. They were right along this beautiful inlet where there were tons of sea turtles and incredible snorkeling. The last few days we spent at a resort in Wailea with all sorts of pools, one of which had a play structure and 2 pretty fun slides, and beaches just a short walk away. In a quick run-down, Friday we snorkeled and went to a beach, Saturday Danny and I cycled 50 miles or so around the coast West Maui, Sunday we went to church and hung out, Monday Danny and I went on a set of 5 zip-lines and then we went to an incredible aquarium with some of the fam, Tuesday Danny and I did the road to Hana where we hiked to and swam in waterfalls and jumped off cliffs at the Seven Pools (everyone else decided not to come, how sad!), Wednesday we snorkeled a little then drove to our new hotel, Thursday we played in the pools at the resort (our game of tag was the funnest part!) then went to a luau, Friday we played in the pools some more and went to the beach, and Saturday we watched the World Cup soccer game, went to Iao Valley State Park with Kim and Jason, watched Toy Story 3, then went to the airport to sadly end our fun familial escapade. And between all that we ate yummy food, played games, and just had fun being together! Thanks Mom and Dad Woodbury for such an unforgettable trip!

A passionate embrace :)

Snorkeling with Heather and Sam. It was Sam's and Jake's first time snorkeling!

Jumping on a sand castle we built. Well, I helped a tiny bit in the building process... Danny and I cycling a loop around the coast of west Maui. Definitely the hardest 50 miles I have ever biked. With all the ups and downs along the coast, we ascended a total of over 5,000 feet! Plus, along the only part that was mostly flat we were either dealing with Danny's flat tire or 20 mph winds pushing straight against us. Most of the part that consisted of ups and downs winding along the north coast was actually a beat-up one lane road, so we had to watch out for cars coming both directions. Without even looking we even saw around 4 or 5 cars that had gone off the steeply descending side of the road and were lodged against trees or upside-down below. Pretty crazy!

About to take off down one of the five zip-lines

Danny and I about to take off. This zip-line was almost exactly a half mile long, and we got up to 40 mph, even with the winds. When you looked to the right you could see the rolling hills, and when you looked to the left you could see green hills and then the ocean.

Swimming below one of the waterfalls on the Road to Hana

One of the waterfalls

Our secret waterfall. We couldn't take the camera with us to the furthest up waterfall as it was pretty sketchy getting there and we had to rock climb in order to do so. But it was so hard to get there that Danny and I were the only two people up at the top, and we got to swim in a secluded pool below a beautiful waterfall... how romantic :)

The Seven Pools. Here we would climb to the top of the waterfall and jump the 20-30 feet or so to the pool below

At the seven pools looking out to the ocean

Getting ready to go snorkeling. At this spot literally right in front of our condos we saw tons of huge sea turtles, all sorts of beautiful varying kinds of fish, a few eels, and even an octopus!

Playing tag around the kid pool of the hotel we stayed in the last few days. Here Sam and I are scheming on who he would help me get since I was "it"

Papa Rick getting Danny wet. If you pulled on that rope it would cause all that water to fall

A continuation of our game of tag. You can see in the background my superb form as I leap forward to tag Jason (at least I think that's who I'm tagging)

Danny and I before the luau, where we got to see the fire dancing world champion

The whole family before the luau. Notice how we are all matching with our respective families. Cute huh?

2 Wonderful Years and a Cake Fight!

2010-06-29T17:56:00.000-07:00

The 31st of May marked two wonderful years since the day Danny and I were married and sealed for eternity in the Las Vegas Temple. I can honestly say that I have never known life to be as sweet as it has been since we were married, and that's coming from someone whose life has always been sweet! I remember thinking at the end of our first year, "Well, they say the first year is the hardest, and considering this first year has been bliss, the rest of our life is bound to be pure, nonstop delight!" Well, my thoughts have thus far been pretty correct! :) (Wow, aren't I starting to sound like that mock-blogger from "Seriously So Blessed"?) In our second year we lived in a new state for a summer, biked over 300 miles in 5 days down a beautiful coast, moved, made and strengthened friendships, applied to graduate schools, went Back East together, traveled to a whole new continent together, graduated, moved again, and had all sorts of other fun adventures in the meantime. And somehow Danny found even more things to do to make me happy, including wiping the snow off my car in the wintery mornings, playing nertz with me when he doesn't want to but knows it will make me happy, giving me lots of ice cream, doing funny dances to make me laugh... and the list could go on. Anyway, Danny and I created an anniversary tradition. In commemoration of the first time we smushed cake into each others faces at our reception 2 years ago, we decided to smash cake in each others faces EVERY year on our anniversary! In fact, we decided that every May 31st, we are having the biggest, funnest, messiest, yummiest cake fight ever known to mankind! The first year was only one measley slice (on our wedding day), last year was perhaps a few slices, and this year it was a total of 4 cakes! Once we have kids of our own they will also be included in the tradition, but as they won't be participating for a while we invited our nephews Sam and Jake and Danny's mom Becky to join in the festivities. Man was it messy... Next year we are thinking of coming prepared with goggles and swim caps!

And so it begins...

Seattle: The Beginning of a Fabulous Month

2010-06-13T14:26:00.000-07:00

Most of you who actually check this blog (I can't imagine who does with how infrequently I post!) probably know about the exciting month of June Team Jessicanny has been and will be having. All of this excitement started with our weekend getaway to Seattle to visit Allie and Drew! Allie has been one of my best friends since about first grade, and she and her husband Drew moved to Seattle about a year and a half ago. Danny and I have been wanting to visit them for a while now, and that chance came about a week ago! Allie and Drew were such a great host and hostess, and we had such a good time exploring the area with them. Too bad it made us miss living by them even more though!

Friday morning Allie took us on a ferry to Bainbridge, and this is the view of downtown from the ferry

Later that day we went to the to of Columbia tower to see the view from above. It is higher than the space needle, and much cheaper! Following is one of the beautiful views from the top.

A picture of the three of us in the top of the tower, as poor Drew had to work Saturday morning we started the day at the Experience Music Project, a museum dedicated to popular music, especially rock music and the bands and styles originating in the Seattle area. Below Danny and I are strumming our invisible electric guitars outside the museum

Below the Space Needle

Danny and I trying to take down the Fremont Troll, a concrete piece of public art below a bridge in Seattle's Fremont area

The view from a park we visited

Another picture with the view from the park. You can see downtown Seattle to our left and the Space Needle to our right

Danny and I playing at Gas Works Park. This was an awesome park which used to be the site of a gasification plant. When they turned it into a park they kept some of the structures from the plant, painted them, and incorporated them to be play structures for children. Such a fun and unique place!

The whole gang at the park. Thanks Allie and Drew for being such a great host and hostess! We'll miss you!

SKIING! Thanks to Park City's StartNOW Program

2010-04-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

Another thing which I am incredibly grateful for which helped me to enjoy this last winter more than any before it was Park City Mountain Resort's StartNOW program. After discovering this extraordinary program, I wish I could stand on my rooftop and yell out to the whole state of Utah to let all Utah residents know about it and how wonderful it is! Through this program, any Utah resident who is a first time skiier or snowboarder can go to Park City (after signing up beforehand) and have a lift ticket, rental, and lesson all for $25! Then, following this first visit, they can return four more times that season for $25 each time for any combination of those three things! I've wanted to learn to ski for a while, but couldn't ever justify the money it would take, especially when I feel I would need to go a few times close together to really make progress. But through this program, I was able to go skiing four times this winter and took two lessons! Danny was almost more excited about the program than I was, as he loves skiing and wants me to learn to love it too so we can spend a lifetime skiing together. But we had so much fun going together, and it was great to see how I felt I improved each time, especially with the lessons. Definitely more natural for me than snowboarding was! Anyway, the link to the program is http://startnow.parkcitymountain.com/site. And below are a few pictures. Unfortunately, Danny and I are usually really bad at remembering to bring our camera places or take pictures (as our families know) so we only have one picture of us, and you can't even see the skiis, but it's better than nothing! The other two pictures are the view from one of the peaks. I don't think I got that high, so Danny must have taken those alone while I was off in one of my lessons!

Winter Wonderland

2010-04-16T18:44:00.000-07:00

With lovely springtime fast approaching, I decided I would like to honor the wonderful aspects of winter that oftentimes get overshadowed by my intolerance of the cold. Coming from Las Vegas, winter to me meant cold nights, biting winds, and an occasional snow every few years which usually wouldn't even stick to the ground. But that was about as extreme as it ever got! Then I came to Utah. Most people don't think that Utah winters are even that extreme, but suddenly I was being forced to walk through cold, wet, dirty snow to and on campus every day with not the best gear for it. My greatest enemy was the freezing cold wetness which would seep up my jeans after walking just about anywhere which would never seem to dry, keeping me cold and uncomfortable whether outside OR inside! This last winter, however, I came to enjoy the snowy season more than I ever had before. There are a few things I will attribute this to. First of all, I was no longer a student, and no longer forced to be outside constantly traipsing through the snow between classes. I no longer had to walk far enough to allow that wetness to start seeping up my jeans. Secondly, I now have better snow gear, including good snow boots, an incredibly warm coat, snow pants, and gloves! And thirdly, I picked up a new hobby which actually get me excited when a storm came in dropping loads of new snow... especially when that was right before the weekend! That hobby, which both Danny and I really picked up for the first time, was snowshoeing! We rented snow shoes right before Christmas, and after renting them twice in one week and going three separate times during that week, we decided to invest with our Christmas money and get our own so we could go whenever we wanted! Here are some pictures of our snowshoeing outings.

So serene!

This picture is of me crawling back out of a gigantic igloo/snowcave we found while snowshoeing. It was so tall that I could fully stand up if I was right in the middle! Not Danny though... his head would have burst through the top if he had tried. :) Props to whoever built this though!

Inside the snowcave

Danny with our friends Jeff and Joel who came along one trip

Danny, me, Elise, and Joel on our snowshoeing adventure

Oh how I love this picture! We all jumped down from the top of this snowy bank into the ravine, some more gracefully than others. Jeff's result was definitely my favorite: as you can see, he ended up face down practically buried in snow with snow even filling up the space behind his glasses!

Danny and I, and the dog that I wish were mine (I wish practically any dog was mine these days though... poor allergic Danny, and poor Jessica to be married to someone with pet allergies!)

A Rustic Getaway

2010-03-07T19:01:00.000-08:00

Back in August (you'll be able to tell, that was a busy month for us!) following our Wood/Christensen reunion was our WoodBURY reunion! We deserted the sand and waves of Carlsbad, CA for the mountains, trees and lakes of Jackson, Wyoming. We spent a relaxing week reading, playing games, searching for license plates of all 50 states, hiking, boating, rafting (my first time and an AWESOME experience!), playing video games at night, picking fights with buffalo, and enjoying each other and beautiful, rustic Wyoming!

The fun Woodbury crowd outside the cabin we rented for the week, which contained everything from a hand shuffle board, lots and lots of cowboy/Indian memorabilia, and stuffed animal heads to spare.

The boys glued to the Nintendo Wii

Danny and I in front of Old Faithful. Oh, the miracles of nature!

Just a small snapshot of the wildlife we came across. This included probably about 20 elk, one bull moose, hundreds of buffalo, and as you will see later, a wild skunk and wolf.

One of the buffalo in a group of hundreds which we passed while driving through Yellowstone. In fact, as Danny was out of the car taking a picture of some of them, one which was immediately next to the road began pawing at the ground and snorting in Danny's direction! After a bit of yelling, Danny quickly sprinted back to the safety of Heather's van, and I am glad to say Danny is alive and well after his dangerous brush with the wild.

I'm not so sure Danny would have been so lucky if he had come across this stinky Wyoming skunk and wild, rabies infected wolf!

Wake-surfing. One of the only water sports I could do as I tore one of my contacts on our first day, so had to wear glasses the entire time. As wake-surfing is much slower and lower-impact if you fall, we figured I would be ok with a nerdy pair of red, buoyant chums to keep my glasses on my face or at least floating if they fell off.

My first time being pulled on a tube, believe it or not! It was quite the experience, considering the fact that I was literally blind without my glasses and couldn't see any bumps or waves approaching! Boy did I get some air!

Danny showing his wakeboarding skills with the glorious Titans in the background! Well, he's not quite showing off his skills in this pic, but it is definitely the best to show the incredible setting we were enjoying ourselves in! And I'll be putting up pictures of his mad skills (including his air chair BACKFLIPS on in the future!

BEACH WEEK!

2010-02-07T17:34:00.000-08:00

Yes, I do know that I am creating posts for things which happened months and months ago. BUT, I have decided to do so anyway as we spoke recently in church about how blogs can actually be a good form of family history, kind of like scrap booking or writing in a journal. And as I am even worse at those two things than I am at blogging (hard to believe, I know), I decided this was the best way for me to work on our little family history. So I guess you will have to put up with me still putting up posts even though they happened months before. In August we went to Carlsbad, CA for my yearly family reunion with my siblings, cousins, grandma, and so forth. I have been to this same beach every year of my life without EVER missing it, and it has always been one of the things I look forward to most. There is nothing better than being in one of your favorite places with some of your favorite people doing some of your favorite things to do. And that is what this is! We get to spend one whole week with our wonderful family on a beautiful beach, relaxing, reading, body-surfing, boogie boarding, playing volleyball, building sandcastles, playing games, eating delicious food, and so forth. Here are some pictures of our time there! Above is not just a sand castle, but a sand city! Danny was the primary architect and even drew out ideas beforehand. Then about 10 of the cousins all worked together to make his dream a reality! :) Danny planned it out as an ancient Roman city with an amphitheatre, temple (Parthenon), Colosseum, and fortress. All of this was surrounded not by one, but two moats to keep it safe from the night tide.

Danny and I working on the creation (my project was primariy the Parthenon)

Taking Ava out to ride the waves on our blow up raft Playing in the sand with Ava and Ez

Teaching Ez how to play volleyball. He had seen us playing earlier and had noticed us hitting it off our arms, so he was adament that he needed to learn to do the same. No throwing/catching for him! He wanted to REALLY play!

Teaching Ava how to play softball. She was very dedicated to learning the sport as well! And oh my goodness was it cute seeing her swing that bat all over the place!

Danny walking Ez to Coldstone

Danny playing 3 flies up frisbee style (thank you Missy for the pic!). Look at how high his hips are in comparison with my cousin Brandon's head! And if you REALLY want to be entertained, zoom the picture up on his facial expression! Yeah... he can be a little intense. He definitely won more rounds than anyone else there. Way to be a winner honey!

Danny and I brought Dead Sea mud from Israel. It is supposed to make your skin softer and healthier, but we just brought it for the fun factor. We definitely got more than a few odd looks as we began wiping this brown/green stuff all over our bodies. I offered some to Grandma C but she rejected my offer. Can you believe it? :)

And, as an end note, in case people are wondering why I have so many pictures of Danny and I with just the Sorensen kids, unfortunately we didn't have our camera, so the only pics I have are the ones they took for us! Thanks Christina and Mike!

Bike trip!!!

2009-10-25T20:54:00.000-07:00

So, obviously I am not doing too well with this blogging thing. Told you it would be sporadic. But, as I promised to post some things, especially the summer activities, I better at LEAST get that done. For those of you who don't know, our most unique summer adventure was our bike trip. Danny has been really big into cycling since high school, and since we got married he bought me a road bike and now I'm almost as in love with it as he is! One of my friends in high school went on a biking trip down the coast of California, and ever since then I have always thought it would be fun to do that, and Danny has always wanted to do a bike trip as well. We decided that if we really were serious about doing a multi-day bike trip, now was the time to do it, especially before we have little kiddies to worry about. So we trained all summer, then packed two pairs of bike clothes each, one pair of normal clothes, necessary toiletries, a bathing suit each, a mini Book of Mormon, and a book each, and headed off to begin one of the most memorable trips of our lives!

Our trip began on a Saturday as we took a train north from Los Angeles to Salinas, CA. For those of you who are Steinbeck fans, this is where he is from and where many of his novels took place. We spent the night there, then biked to the chapel in town. As we were carrying our bikes inside to hide them in some extra room, we ran into one of the counselors in the bishopric who just happened to be an avid cyclist. Within 60 seconds he had invited us over to his friend's house for dinner, and after sacrament meeting his friend had not only confirmed that we could come for dinner but invited us to stay the night with them if we needed a place to stay! We spent the rest of the day talking, eating, and playing games with three-or-so families from this ward, then spent the night in their beautiful home. What incredible people.

The next morning, Monday, our journey truly began. We cycled to Carmel, then biked the 17 mile drive, a beautiful and well-known scenic drive along the edge of a peninsula jutting out into the Pacific ocean. In all we went a little over 60 miles that day, and ended in the middle of Big Sur, a national forest along the coast. There we stayed in a perma-tent, as I like to call it. It was a canvas tent on a wooden platform with a wooden frame, and had a bed inside it with clean sheets and clean towels which you could use at the camp showers.

Tuesday was our hardest yet most beautiful day. When considering all of the ups and downs in elevation that day, we probably climbed a total of about 4,000 feet in elevation, and biked the farthest distance, about 72 miles. But it was one of the most exhilirating experiences of my life. Not only was it incredible seeing how far you came using your own two legs, but we were biking right alongside these gorgeous cliffs which went straight down into the ocean. At different parts of the day mist would come up off the ocean, push up the cliffs and come over the highway we were biking on, and altogether, it was unforgettable. Along the way we also stopped at an elephant seal beach, where we were probably about 30 yards away from about 40 elephant seals all laying out in the sand and water. That night we stayed in San Simeon, a small town outside Hearst Castle.

Wednesday morning we found some nice people at our continental breakfast who drove us to Hearst Castle, where we spent just about the entire morning. For the sake of time I won't talk much about it, but it was BEAUTIFUL and I highly recommend it for anyone driving through the area. That afternoon we then biked about 56 miles to the charming town of Pizmo Beach where we stayed for the night.

Thursday we biked inland a bit in order to reach Solvang, a completely Danish-style city right in the middle of California. As we were biking more inland we passed through miles of farmland, and Danny and I had a fun time guessing the different crops they were growing merely by smelling the fragrant air around us. Sixty-some-odd miles later we reached Solvang, and spent the evening exploring the charming town, eating Danish food, and reconnecting me with my Danish roots.

Friday was our last day, and on which we biked another sixty-something miles to Carpenteria, where we had to then take a train the last 80 miles back to LA in order to leave the next morning for our family reunion in Carlsbad. We did, however, have one last surprise along the way. As we rode through Santa Barbara looking for someplace to eat we stumbled upon the largest horse parade in America! We were then able to enjoy seeing men and women in Renaissance attire riding their noble steeds through the streets, horses literally dancing to mariachi music, and so forth as we enjoyed our Subway sandwiches. Following are a number of pictures from our trip. As I haven't become a pro at this blogging thing yet I couldn't figure out how to get them in order, so they are in reverse order from the end of our trip to the beginning. :)

Some of the horses which were dancing to the mariachi music in the horse parade

In front of the windmill in Solvang

At Pizmo Beach

Admiring the incredible indoor pool at Hearst Castle

Watching the elephant seals

Danny in front of a beautiful view along the way

Another beautiful view

The perma-tent we stayed in after our first day of biking, also known as the "Crow's Nest"

(the name you might be able to see on the plaque along the side of the tent)

A beautiful bridge we crossed along the way. You can see the highway we took cutting

across the hill as well.

On the 17 miles drive. You can kind of get an idea of how little we brought in this picture,

as it is all there on our bikes

Danny and I with the wonderful man who let us stay at his house Sunday night.

I am also wearing his wife's jacket which they lent me, and which we sent them once we were finished. Incredible people!

Summer Installment 2: Sequoia National Park

2009-09-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

A while into our time in California we decided to leave the smog and traffic of the city behind and go enjoy some NATURE! We drove three or so hours north to Sequoia National Park, hiked the first day, camped, and then set off early for another long hike the next day. Unfortunately, a number of miles into that hike my tendonitis flared up in my ankle and I had to limp the whole way back down. But we had a lot of fun witnessing the beautiful scenery, seeing the biggest tree in the entire world (General Sherman, a sequoia), and catching a glimpse of the wildlife, including THREE BEARS!

At a lookout point

Looking up inside of a tree where the core had been burned out by fire, but the sides and top were still living

In front of General Sherman, the biggest tree in the world

The following is a video of one of the bears we saw when we were hiking. Danny didn't get out his camera until a little late, so it is a short clip. But as we were hiking Danny suddenly said quietly, "Jessica, stop... There's a bear up there." I looked up, and it was completely still, looking at us. Danny, the bear and I all stood there completely still looking at each other for a while, when finally it decided we weren't going to do anything and continued sauntering off, sniffing the ground, probably looking for some breakfast. After a while of walking forward it turned, saw something, and started running down the hill (a bit ahead of us, don't worry). We turned to look and see what he was running after, and it was another bear, running away!

Summer Adventures

2009-09-15T21:40:00.000-07:00

I had requests to put up pictures from our adventures in Los Angeles this last summer, and as we had quite a few, I may have to accomplish that task in shifts. Here is shift one! For Danny's birthday and our one-year anniversary at the beginning of the summer I surprised Danny by kidnapping him from his work at lunch time one Friday and then driving him all the way down to San Diego. It was pretty funny, because I didn't tell him that he wasn't going back to work and just acted like I was taking him on a lunchtime excursion. After it had been perhaps 45 minutes, and we were still driving the same direction, he started getting pretty antsy and finally notified me that if we didn't turn around he was going to be REALLY late back to work. That's when I announced "Happy birthday! I'm kidnapping you!" He didn't realize I had worked it all out with his boss over a week before and started saying "Jessica, you can't just do that! I can't just leave work like that..." I could tell he was in panic mode, thinking I hadn't notified anyone in the office and he just wouldn't be showing up for the rest of the day, so I had to explain to my poor panicked Danny that everything was ok, his boss knew and had granted his generous permission! When we got to San Diego we checked into our 4 star hotel (where I had found tickets for over 50% off), explored downtown and walked to the pier, then laughed the night away at a Brian Regan comedy show I had bought tickets for. The next day we went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park and saw everything from baby elephants to giraffes to rhinoceroses!

Danny and I on the pier

And lastly, we even got special treatment at our hotel! While we were waiting for our room we were sitting on the lush, fancy couches and the concierge brought us goblets of water. Well, while she was trying to pick them up off the tray and put them on the little table in front of us she happened to accidentally tip over the tray, and water spilled on my feet! She apologized profusely, then went and got a towel and was drying off my feet herself! She had known that we were celebrating our anniversary, so when we came back from our night on the town there was a bottle of sparkling lemonade and a tray of the most delicious chocolate covered strawberries I've ever had, along with a personalized card to make up for her mistake. I love the close of the card... "Stay dry!"

Believe it or not...

2009-09-13T18:19:00.000-07:00

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, but Jessica and Danny are finally joining the ranks of married LDS couples all over the world in making our first ever blog! Now, we expect all of you (family, friends, and whoever else may stumble across us) to read this thing RELIGIOUSLY... just kidding. We figure that it is a great way for siblings, parents, grandparents and perhaps some friends to see some of the exciting things we have been doing since we were married about a year and a half ago. And boy is life exciting in our little Woodbury family! Now as we don't have a child yet (and let's face it, the primary purpose for these blogs is for grandparents to see their adorable grandbabies and aunts and uncles to see their beloved nieces and nephews) our posting may be a little sporadic and half-hearted. But at least it will give those of you who are interested some sort of an update on our Woodbury family adventures!