The Grand Canyon

We really had fun this past week taking Grandma to the Grand Canyon! She had never been, so when she decided to come out for a visit Robby decided that it would be a good time to take her to see it. Andra had never been before either so she was excited to plan the trip, and Tommy decided to drive down from Utah and meet us there. All in all, we had a grand family trip!

We arrived about 4pm, checked-in to the lodge, and set up camp. Then we took the shuttle to Hopi Point, one of the look-outs, and watched the sunset with about a hundred or so other on-lookers. Here Grandma poses with Matthew and Robby at Hopi point.

Jenna gets a ride from Dad. (Notice one shoe on, one shoe off -- that's Jenna for you!)

Andra and Matthew (her oldest) pose for a picture!

Here's our little family posing with the setting sun.

That night Grandma, Andra, Matthew, James, Jenna, and I spent a restless night at the lodge (poor Andra spent almost the whole night comforting her children - we thought James was going to be really sick, but fortunately he wasn't.) The rest of the crew which consisted of Robby, Little Robby, Tommy, and his girlfriend Doris, spent a very cold night (25 degrees was the low - Brrrr!) camping. The next day Grandma, Tommy, Doris, Robby, Little Robby, and Matthew decided to hike about a mile down one of the trails that leads to the bottom of the Canyon. Andra (who is expecting in late Sept.) and I opted to walk along the rim pushing James and Jenna in strollers. All of us really enjoyed taking in the scenic views of the Canyon.

Here the trail hikers are ready to take off down into the Canyon. (Robby is taking the picture.)

Taking in the magnificent view!

At the end of their trail they took a little while to enjoy the view from this look-out.

Tommy and Matthew

Apparently Matthew was too tired to hike back up so he got to ride. In the end, many of them had to fight off fatigue to hike back up the trail fast enough for us to get Grandma off to her surprise.

Eventually, they all succeeded!

It did take the hiking party about 40 minutes longer than they thought to hike back up the trail, but they managed to make it just in time to get Grandma to her surprise. You'll have to see the video clips to find out what she got to do! To see Grandma's surprise and three other Grand Canyon video clips go here http://robertandsharon.com/family/videoclips-11.htm. While she was gone the rest of us went to the Grand Canyon IMAX film which was pretty cool. Afterwards, we all met back up, went for lunch, and drove home.

Overall, it was a truly fun family trip that we will all never forget!

Breakfast in Bed!

I must be doing something right because Little Robby loves me enough to make breakfast in bed for me! On Easter morning the family let me sleep in, and as I was getting up Little Robby insisted that I go back to bed. The next thing I knew he was coming in with my breakfast, and Dad was assisting by getting the bed tray for him. Evidently it was all his idea, and so far as Dad knew Little Robby made it all by himself (although I suspect Grandma helped a little!)



Dad did take one more picture of Little Robby and I sitting together on the bed with the tray in front of me, but seeing as my morning appearance might be enough to frighten everyone (even myself!) I will spare you from viewing it.

Watching the butterflies flutter by

This past weekend my parents flew in from Texas to visit us over Easter. While here we took them to the Botanical Gardens in Phoenix to see the Spring butterfly exhibit. It consists of screened in portable building that they fill with thousands of flowers and hundreds of butterflies. It was so fun seeing Jenna get excited about the butterflies that were flying all around us.

Here we are waiting for our turn to enter the butterfly house.

My two happy little ones.

One of the pretty butterflies we saw.

Jenna doesn't realize that there is a butterfly friend on Grandpa's shoulder.

"Grandpa, do you see the butterflies!?"

Here Little Robby and Jenna are sitting inside the butterfly house. If you look closely you can see some butterflies on the plants behind them.

And here we have a Chap-apiller.

And here is a Jennafly.

Sharon performs in the Mesa Temple Easter Pageant

I was very excited back in January to be selected as one of twelve dancers to perform in this year's Mesa Temple Easter Pageant called Jesus the Christ. It has been a fabulous experience! I was cast as one of the dancers in the Parable of the Ten Virgins. You can see me here with my fellow dancers. I am in purple and gold and am seated on the right side at the bottom of the picture.


I want to give you a little bit of background on the pageant... This is the 68th year that it has been performed. Over time this pageant has grown to it's current size. This year the cast consists of 400 people with another 100 (directors and stage, costume, lighting, and sound crews) working behind the scenes. The cast was selected from over 800 people who auditioned. We rehearse nights on Tuesday-Friday for two weeks and have 2 all day Saturday rehearsals. We perform 10 nights (which includes one night that is a public dress rehearsal), and the crowd over those 10 nights is estimated at 150,000 people! The crowds have been amazing, especially the last two nights which have been packed! We have three performances left, and I must say that I am sad for it to end.

Yesterday, my parents flew in from Houston to see me dance. They truly enjoyed the performance.

I am throwing in this picture below just for kicks... This is me with my stage make-up for the pageant (complete with false eyelashes -- why, the fake lashes you may ask? Because they define your eyes so that even the audience members way at the back can see them clearly.) If you think this looks extreme for me, you should have seen my full stage make-up when I was still performing at the University! This is nothing compared to that! Every night when I get ready to leave for the performance Robby (my husband) comes in and says, "I'm glad you don't wear that much make-up in real life!"

You too can have hair like this!

Who needs expensive hair care products when you can achieve the same great look naturally?! Simply combine mushed bananas and dash of pineapple juice, squeeze it together thoroughly in your hands, apply a small amount (or large if you prefer) to your hair, and style as desired! It's so easy even a baby can do it!