EFY

The girls were able to go to Especially For Youth in San Antonio again this year. I love sending the kids to EFY because they always come home with such strengthened testimonies. It truly is an amazing program.

I can't believe that Erin is old enough to go this year. She was so excited that she couldn’t stop talking about it for days, and had EFY packing piles all over her room. She roomed with Jessica Richardson and also was able to spend time with Juliana Stewart who came from Australia to attend with them. Rachel roomed with Lauren Kennington again this year and they had a great time.

This year I was driving up to EFY and the Kenningtons were bringing the girls back home. As always, when it was time to load the cars we had way more luggage than I thiought we should. Luckily, we had two cars going up with 6 girls, so their was plenty of room for all their stuff. I drove Rachel, and Lauren and Lindsey Kennington in our van and Erin, Jessica and Juliana rode with Juliana's mom, Barbara. I think I definately got the better end of that deal. My girls were relatively calm and quiet, and all of them slept at least part of the way. Barbara wasn't so lucky, although she said she enjoyed the girls company so it was all good. Monday was a very long day. We had at 3 1/2 hr drive to San Antonio and then had to go through the check-in process. Next we went to the three different buildings the girls were in (Rachel and Lauren were in one building, Erin, Jessica and Juliana in another, and Lindsey in a third) and dropped their things into their rooms. By this time we were starving, so we headed out to find a place for lunch. It is always difficult to find my way around Trinity College and discover a place to eat, but this time we stumbled across a great one--Cheesy Janes, where the girls enjoyed yummy burgers and shakes, and I had an order of nachos. Cheesy Janes didn't sound appealing to Juliana, but luckily there was a subway next door--so Barbara, Juliana and Erin went and had lunch there.

After we were done eating, it was back to the dorms, where the girls had to rush to change into their EFY shirts and get to the opening activities. I said goodbye to Barbara, and then met up with Elena Robinson. We had planned to get together and have lunch, but the drop offs had taken so long we didn't have time for anything but a quick stop at McDonalds in a local Walmart. This was a bummer, as I had looked forward to spending time with my friend, but we made the best of the time we had and enjoyed catching up with each other. After eating, I had to hit WalMart for the things the girls had forgotten--pillows and cheesecake jello for Rachel and batteries for Erin, then it was back to the dorms to drop them off in Rachel's room. I finally got back on the road around 4, and made it back to Houston around 7:30. It was a very long day--but definately worth it. EFY is worth any sacrifice!

The girls came home today on a spiritual high. I loved hearing about their experience and also listening to their new EFY CD--one of the best parts of the week. These are such good CDs that Erin had promised Joe before he left on his mission that she would mail hers to him once she got home--and when I told him I was sending it, he said he flet like a nerd being so excited about getting a CD for an EFY he never attended. Too funny! I am so grateful that the girls were able to have this experience. EFY is a great blessing in our lives!

Jessica, Rachel, Juliana and Erin

Erin's group

Lauren and Rachel

Rachel's group

Jensen Family Reunion

Greg flew to Utah this weekend to spend a few days with his family and attend the Jensen Family Reunion. The reunion was held in Kamas, Utah (near Park City) on June 28, 2008 at the original Peacock home, which is now owned now by Valoy & Darrell. It was well attended and everyone enjoyed reminiscing with each other, having lunch and of course, cooling off with the now famous Jensen homemade root beer!

Shirley Jensen, Rob Ure, & Morgan Jensen

Vickie Ure & Shirley Jensen

Tonia & Greg

Randy & Becca

Brett Jensen, Melissa Peacock, & Anena Roberts

The Peacocks

The Sorensens

Craig Peacock, Randy Jensen, Lawayne & Jens Jensen

Giovanni Shannon, Megan Peacock & Sam Jensen

Josh

Garrett

Jenna

Greg had tried pretty hard to talk me and the girls into going with him. But since EFY began on the following Monday, I was afraid of getting stuck in Salt Lake and not being able to get home in time to get them to San Antonio for the start of it. In the end it turns out this was a good decision on my part, as Greg ended up missing his flight home Sunday afternoon because of moving too slow from breakfast to the airport that morning. But that just gave him another day to hang out with Randy, Becca, Garret and Jenna—and it’s hard to complain about that. Because he missed his flight and I was driving to EFY the next day and wouldn’t be able to pick him up at the airport, the girls and I had to drive a car to the airport and park it for him. This was pretty uneventful, except on the way back when we got to park on the toll road for about 20 minutes because an accident had closed down all 4 lanes. Kind of a pain, but we survived.

Cancun Beach Vacation

We enjoyed 4 wonderful days of summer vacation in Cancun. Originally we had planned a driving vacation to various church history sites in Ohio and New York. But when the price of gas was sitting at $4 a gallon, we started having second thoughts. So I got online and found a great deal at the Sandos Caracol Beach Resort. That combined with my vacation passes from work made this a much more economical choice--and one where we wouldn't have to spend a lot of our time in a car. So we packed our bags and headed to Mexico!

We flew out on Monday, June 16. As always, flying standby made our time line fluxuate and as flights changed in the morning so did the goal of what time to leave. We finallly decided to try for an earlier flight than we had planned. We got to the airport not knowing if we would get on the flight, but then was told there was a possiblity of getting a couple of seats in first class. Bonus! Since they needed to make sure all of the paid customers had arrived before giving away seats in 1st class, we were given scattered seats in coach so that they could expedite boarding. After we were all situated, one of the agents came to me with 4 boarding passes for 1st. We have adopted our friends the Martins' rule that first class seats are given out in order of age, which meant that Erin would be the one left in coach. But since she was on the very last row I decided to move her up to either Rachel or Melissa's seat which were closer to the front of the plane. Unfortunately things were a bit hectic trying to get moved, so I just told her to go up front so we could get moving. I was thinking we would see Melissa and Rachel on the way, and I could stop Erin and sit her down. Well, I totally missed them and Erin ended up in the first class cabin and then turned to me to see where her seat was. I then told her that she had to go back and find Melissa and Rachel, send them up to 1st, and then take one of their seats. You can imagine how well that went over. She went, grumbling all the way to her seat and to Cancun. Since the flight was just a little over two hours, I really didn't think it was that big of a deal (of course I wasn't the one who had to go back into coach either. Everyone but Erin found it pretty amusing including the couple Erin sat next to. But in the end we were all just happy to be on our way. Cancun, here we come!







Our first view of Mexico










This was our first trip to an all-inclusive resort, and we had a great time. The resort was very colorful. We had rooms next to each other--one for Greg and I and one for the three girls. We also had our own peacock that visited every morning in front of our building. We enjoyed several days of good food, fun activities and relaxing on the beach. It was some excellent family time!


Sandos Caracol Beach Resort





















Our building

























Our peacock














"Miami Vice, no alcohol por favor!"
The girls loved hitting the beach bar for unlimited frozen drinks.


















Rachel takes Melissa to chess school.

























We enjoyed kayaking



























snorkeling












burying Rachel (by request)































All of us agree that coco frios are better for pictures than for drinking.

The girls had fun in the pool





They kept calling them Aztecs, but Rachel, Erin and Melissa are sure they were hanging with the Lamanites.

Melissa and Rachel got up early to enjoy the sunrise.












We also enjoyed walking on the beach at early sunset








On Tuesday, we took a snorkeling trip. Greg and I have snorkeled several times and Erin had tried it at the resort and really liked it--but the lack of coral made us want to take the girls out to the reef. We caught our boat at the resort, and headed out on a trip that was Rachel and Melissa's first experience with snorkeling. As we were riding out in the boat, we realized we had made a mistake and should have had Melissa and Rachel practice with snorkels before we left. Opps. The trip consisted of snokeling on the reef and then some free time on a beach. All of us had a good time, except for Melissa. She could not get a good seal on her mask and had trouble keeping her snorkel above the water--so she was constantly getting water in her face and mouth. Because of this, she did not enjoy the snorkeling part of the trip. But in the end she was happy she had tried. Hopefully she'll get to try again and have better results. The worst part of the trip was that we forgot to reapply our sunscreen after we were done snorkeling and we all ended up getting burned on from our beach time and the return to the resort.






View of our resort from our boat















Our guides









Heading out to the reef





















Rachel and Greg heading back to the boat.














I found a cool shell on the beach, but our guides wouldn't let me keep it.













On Wednesday we took a trip out to the Tulum ruins. The ruins are located on a cliff, along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. It is one of the best-preserved coastal Maya sites. Although it was a very hot day, and our tour guide kept rambling on and on about human sacrifices, we all enjoyed seeing the ruins. Once we were done touring the site, the girls went down to the beach to swim. Greg and I had brought our swim suits thinking we would change at the site, only to discover the all of the restrooms were back at entrance. Since it didn’t seem like it would be worth walking back to change, we sat in the shade and waited for the girls to swim. It is amazing how much cooler it was in the shade!






















Melissa wants to see the ruins now -- enough with all this talk about human sacrifices!

Tulum

The girls enjoyed a swim at the Tulum beach




























After three fun days, it was time to head home and the trip was not uneventful. We got to the airport in time to catch the flight that was leaving just before our scheduled one. The agent at the counter changed our reservations and told us how much we owed for our departure taxes. We had been operating with dollars all week, since we were never able to find an ATM and didn't want to pay the resort's exchange fees. But now we needed pesos to pay our departure taxes. We went to the ATM and made a mistake and didn't withdraw enough money. So we had to make another withdraw, and not only had to pay 2 atm fees, but also ended up with more pesos than we needed. It was pretty funny that we had wished for pesos all week, and now were going to be taking them home when we didn't need them.

The first part of the flight went smoothly. All of us got seats in 1st class this time, so no one was complaining. When we got to Houston, we noticed that we were circling the area. That is never a good sign. The flight attendent made an announcement that the airport was closed due to weather and that we were being diverted to Austin. We landed in Austin and parked. Because we were an international flight and the Austin airport doesn't have custom facilities we were not allowed to go to a gate and deplane. Instead, we sat on the runway. The flight attendants kept appologizing and said they were trying to get permission to receive ice and cups so they could serve drinks--but they never came. The most ironic part was that there were people on the plane whose final destination was Austin. But because of customs situation, they would have to fly back to Houston and then hope they could make a flight back to Austin. They finally got us refueled and cleared to head back to Houston. We ended up arriving an hour after the original flight we planned to catch. We did avoid the long wait at the Cancun airport, but the trade off definately wasn't worth it! But even with this rough ending, it was a wonderful vacation!

Greg gets a new calling

Greg was given a new calling today--1st counselor in the Bishopric. We actually found out about the calling last week when Greg was in Utah. Turns out the stake had planned to reorganize the Bishopric last Sunday, with Greg replacing Carl Pierce and Don Greenwood replacing Bill. Clements. I am kind of bummed about having Greg taken out of nursery. It has been really enjoyable to have a calling where we worked together. Another plus of our nursery callings is no extra meetings. We go on Sunday, do our job and are done again until the next week. Of course, I really didn't expect this sweet set up would last long--but I thought we'd get to have at least a year. But I know that this is where the Lord wants Greg to serve, and I also know that we will be greatly blessed because of it. When Greg served with Bishop Robinson it was an amazing experience for him and I know this opportunity to serve with Bishop Martin will be the same. It just won't be as fun in the nursery without Greg!

Fresh fruit and chainsaw weekend

Greg went to Utah this weekend to help his Dad clear dead trees of their lot in Kolob. While he was there, he also enjoyed a lot of time sitting out on the back porch enjoying fresh cherries and apricots (some of which he brought home to me). The tree clearing went pretty well. Greg got to play with a chainsaw, which he always enjoys, and they only had one tree get way from them. They were able to get all the big trees dropped, but there are still some smaller ones that need to be taken care of so I am assuming another trip will be in the near future.