At Home in the Country

This story begins with Friday night. Dad had been sick for a week and progressively getting worse. With chills and fevers, and deep painful coughing that seemed to come from the depths of hell. Well anyway, it didn’t look like dad would be going to the Temple with Ben. So dad asked Ben to give him a blessing. The family gathered around, and Elder Palmer gave dad a simple but wonderful blessing. "I bless you that you will be able to go with me to the temple." It’s times like these when one realizes just how little faith one has. At 2:00am we arose to get ready. Some changes had taken place during the night, and dad was able to get through the preparations to go without a cough, without a heave, and without a fever sweat. We made the trip to the temple and went through the session and did the whole thing without a hitch. Dad hardly coughed. Ben was the most handsome thing that his mother and grandmother had ever seen of course. He expressed his testimony about the experience and a desire to return soon. He’ll be a great missionary. He said later that he knew dad would be going after the blessing.

So...here are the vacation pics.

First of all, getting everything loaded up for 8 people
was a challenge.

Then there's the trip. Mile after mile after mile.....
Hour after hour, on and on we drove.

And then......there it was,
That wonder "SIGN"
of RELIEF.

"Hey guys, LOOK AT THAT! ! ! What is it? Josh, do you see her? Yea, oh my gosh. What is she wearing? You mean what is she not wearing?" The first thing everyone noticed was how much skin they could see. That was both fun to look at and sometimes scarey, or even down right disturbing at the same time.

This is the Days Inn that we stayed at. Not the best, but cheap enough.

"Emma, here comes a wave....you might want to move." Ok, that's gotta hurt. Salt in the eyes.
The water was very salty. It takes some getting used to. It was crystal clear however. That's why the Pensacola Bay is called the Emerald Bay.

This is skimboarding. You throw the board onto the water while running and then jump on it and try to stay up.

Not for Dad! ! !

They got better after awhile, but Dad didn't try it.

Good one Josh....nice ride. Ammon stayed after it until he got it down pretty good.

Ammon worked at it for quite awhile

and mastered it.

The waves were pretty good for body boarding. The best waves were on Monday, but the beach patrol wouldn't let anyone in the water because of the waves and the currents left over from the hurricane.

Is that Ben in the wave, or a shark?

Ride that wave.

Josh is waiting for the big one.
Ammon caught this one just right. If you can get on the front of the wave you can ride it all of the way in.

The next morning we went

on a fishing trip 9 miles off the

coast, looking for that big one,

the mother of all fish.

The fishing was good.
The boat trip was really something too.

It took about 35 min. to get to our first spot.

The sea was moving with swells of about 5 to 6 feet and it's a good thing we took

motion sickness pills before we went.

Ammon couldn't wait to taste his catch.

So, this is what we caught. 8 Snapper was our limit, and then Ammon caught a nice Grouper.
We could have caught 3 times as much if not for the limit, which was imposed just about 2 months ago......or so our guide said.

"Ok, Ben, where did we see those girls.

I've got something that I want to show them.

The ones with the, you know, the ones that.....anyway, where were they?"

"You'll have to go without me Ammon,

I'm too close to my mission."

What's wrong Brenda, is the water too cold?

Or maybe you just don't want to
put that sexy suit on, huh?

David got more jellyfish stings than anyone.

Go figure.

"Hey, you guys. What's that in the water?

It looks kind of weird. Yea, what is it?"

"It's a jellyfish,
run for lives. Where is it?
It's everywhere.
One there, and there, oh my gosh.....run!"

There were Jellyfish in the water because of the

hurricane that passed through the area just a few

days before. Several of the kids were stung, but it

didn't keep them out of the water for long.

One evening we were on the boardwalk. We ate icecream, shopped, and took stupid funny pictures.

This is a great picture. I've got to tell you

we still have it. Just look at us. We don't

look a day over 25. Just two love birds.

On the boardwalk. With the chef. He didn't say much.

Josh, chillin' at the boardwalk. He tells his friends that this is really his car.

We went to the Naval Air Station. There were a lot of exhibits and a lot airplanes to see. Can you find Ammon in the picture?

Hint: Look behind Ben

David liked this one for the color.

Yes, these are grown boys. But this was just too cool. To sit in the cockpit of a real jet fighter

There were simulators, and open cockpits to sit in. It was all pretty cool to see. We also saw a film on a 7 story IMAX screen. Really COOL!!