Josh

Josh was ordained to the office of an Elder today. We had a short meeting conducted by President Bangerter. Mel conferred the Melchizedek Priesthood upon Josh and then Josh was able to bare his testimony.
Yes... he still has a little facial hair but I'm sure that will change with a little more time.
Congrats Josh.... we love you!!
Mel Jensen, Josh Jensen & President Bangerter

Mel, Josh, Austin, President Bangerter, Adam Bangerter, Derick Hughes, Mitch Peterson & Sadie Sandburg.

WE LOVE THE BEACH

We spent the weekend in Oceanside California with our friends the Brinkerhoff's. What a great trip. We left Thursday afternoon and spent the night in Primm Nevada. Did a little shopping at the outlet mall there, had a "German" themed buffet (whatever that means) and spent the night at Buffalo Bill's. General consensus - we can take that off the "to-do" list.
Next day we headed out at 6:00AM to the BEACH. When we got to Oceanside we went to our favorite little hole-in-the-wall fish & chips joint and had some lunch then it was off to the beach. We spent a couple of hours there in which I promptly sunburned my shoulders. That evening we went to a car show/cruise in over at Escondido. We walked up and down the streets looking at lots of cool cars and a few strange people including one with a boa constrictor wrapped around his neck.
Saturday, 4:30AM the fishermen (Mel, Josh, Nate & Colby) headed out to the long awaited fishing trip. They went out of Point Loma and headed south down into the Baja Mexico area. They had a great time fishing. Mel broke his pole about an hour into the excursion but between the four of them they caught 28 Sea Bass and one shark. Colby caught the 4 foot long shark. Though they couldn't bring a shark onto the boat they reeled it in and got a good look at it before they cut it loose.
When the guys got done fishing they stopped and got a picnic lunch and brought down to the rest of us that were already on the beach. Janet and I took the rest of the kids and were at the beach since 9:30 that morning. We stayed the rest of the day at the beach playing in the sand, catching sand crabs and boogie boarding. We played hard all day.
For dinner, we had ice cream and then went to a great little pizza place in Carlsbad. The Brinkerhoff's were having so much fun they decided to stay another day on vacation but we headed home on Sunday. The way we vacation it takes me a week to catch up on sleep and laundry but we had a blast. We are already planning next year's outing!!

Mel at Strand Peir in Oceanside
Strand Peir

Sadie playing in the sand

Josh, Nate & Colby on the fishing trip

Getting the live bait before heading out to fish

World's Greatest Fish Fry (Well Almost)

After a great fishing trip, what else can you ask for but a great fish fry! We had our friends over to share in the feast. There were enough fish & chips to go around many, many times. The guys cooked for and hour. Mel battered and cooked the fish while Doug and Nate kept the fries cooking in the fryers. We ate so much sea bass and it was soooo good that I just had to take a few pictures. Here is one of the kids getting a head start on the food. Here's just a sample of what we had for dinner. YUM!!

Pine Valley

We went to Pine Valley with my homies from work. We stayed at the DSC cabin (it's huge) and we had a blast. It was much cooler up there - around 80 - 85 degrees instead of the 114 we left in St. George. It was so nice and comfortable, we really didn't want to come home. We went fishing at the PV Reservoir (below). Went on a tour of the PV Chapel.

Found 5 pioneer cemeteries -waayyy back in the mountains.

Took a few cool pictures

Took the kids and some of the not-so-little kids snipe hunting.

Took another tour of the chapel - it was sooo cool!

Took pictures of lots of deer. They don't seem to be afraid of people!

Ozzy

Hope you can see this, it's kinda small. I thought it was kinda cool. Ozzy did this on his facebook page...

Burch Family Reunion 2009

Here are a few pictures of our family reunion. We spent a few days in Lehi, Utah at Becky & Isoa's home. Monday we went to Tibble Reservoir for a quick fishing excursion. Mackenzie had to get back to go check on school. Then it was swimming afternoon at the Orem pool. Tuesday we spent at Lagoon. We had a great time. Mackenzie, Tyler & Ozzy went on the Sky Coaster. I was way more scared than Oz was, and I was just watching.
It was awesome having Mackenzie back after two years on his mission but we sure missed mom because she is on a mission in Albuquereque NM. Mel won the blanket at the family raffle and he hasn't let go of it yet.
All in all, we had a great time! Can't wait till next year. Mel and I are in charge...
Millie, Kelsi & Hailey

Jale Kade fishing at Tibble Reservoir.

Millie finding some "bait".

Millie & Skyler

Ethan

Austin

John

Sara

Millie

Hailey & Kelsi

Becky & Sara

Austin at the Logan Temple

Sara

It's A Sickness

My lucky, lucky neighbors (haha.. sorry friends) get to see stuff like this in front of my house on a regular basis. Mel brought home his car (1934 Chevy) today and parked behind Josh's truck (1946 Chevy). I thought these cars went out of style a long time ago but apparently they are all the rage around our house. Oh well, it keeps 'em busy!!!