Nora Rose Jensen

We were planning to drive to Kansas City this weekend, but by Wednesday it appeared that things were progressing and we should be on our way. So we hit the road on Thursday morning and headed over through Wyoming. Everyone says that I-80 is faster than I-70, so that is the way we went.

Five days later. . . . no, actually only about 19 hours later we finally got to Kansas City and their apartment and crashed.

The next day, there was nothing much happening, so we drove over to the school and had lunch with Ken on the lawn.

Over the next several days, we walked and played games and talked, but nothing much was happening. Cydney was so big and uncomfortable, but the little one just wasn't ready to come see us yet.

Then, early in the morning on Tuesday, Cydney awakened us and told us that she had been having contractions for some time and they were on their way to the hospital. That was exciting news at that point.

We went back to sleep after they left and got up a little after 7:00 in the morning. We called and things were still going along, so we got ready and headed over to the hospital.

It was very difficult to watch Cydney through the day. She had been in labor all night and it just seemed to go on and on and on. She was exhausted and it reached the point where the doctor decided that she needed some help to finish. She gave her pitosin. That certainly increased the intensity, but also wore her out even quicker.

She really did not want to have an epidural, but it got to the point where she was either going to go that way or to a c-section. Once she agreed and had the epidural, then things settled down and she quickly got through the rest of the labor and was ready to deliver.

"Little" Nora Rose Jensen finally arrived. All 10 pounds, 7 ounces! Wow! No wonder Cydney was so big and uncomfortable and it took sooo long! But the long wait was worth it. What a doll!



The new little family!


Nora arrived hungry and she wanted to eat pretty much non-stop.

We spent most of the next two days at the hospital getting acquainted. . .







Homecoming! Even as big as she is, she looks tiny in the car seat.




Cydney spent a long time trying to capture Nora's smile. She succeeded spectacularly!



Sunday afternoon we took some group photos outside.

The new little family at home.


All too soon, the time was spent and we had to say goodbye in the wee hours of Monday morning and head back to Orem.

Yard

Two years ago we took the quaking aspen out of the little mound alongside the driveway and replaced it with a "golden chain" tree. It was pretty when we bought it and then last year, there were almost no chains on the tree. It was disappointing!

This year more than made up for last year! Wow! It is covered with chains and is just gorgeous!! And is smells wonderful!



I felt bad all summer last year because I didn't do much in the garden. So I decided this year would be different. I may be gone a lot, but I wanted the yard to look better. I got three loads of bark and refreshed all the bark beds. They look way better and the ground cloth is now covered again.





When we put the fence and arbor in several years ago we talked about planting something that would climb up the arbor and be really pretty. We didn't buy full-grown plants then and have not gotten anything since. This year I decided to surprise Lauri and went and bought four honeysuckle plants and put them in. I figured she would come right out and see what I had done, but I had to bring her out to see them a couple of days later. She was really excited!


These growboxes are great! I bought two of them when I was in the apartment in Oregon a few years ago and we have bought others since. We have eight of them now. We have started using four of them over on the side of the house and four others for peppers and basil.




Our "herb garden".

The hanging baskets of petunias, planters of impatiens, and the planters on the patio have become a tradition in the backyard.

May 9, 2009 Dives - Mahi & Makaha Caverns

On Saturday, May 9, 2009, I dove with Brad and Shawn (divemaster) from Ocean Concepts. We did two dives, the Mahi, a 95 foot deep dive on a ship that was intentionally sunk as an artificial reef and Makaha Caverns, a 50 foot deep dive on a shallow coral reef with lava tubes and swim-throughs.

I dove solo, sort-of. Shawn was the divemaster for our group. There were 9 divers and two "guides", so they paired up all the divers and the two guides each took a group. Our group was the first in this time, and Brad and I were the first in the water. Brad disappeared as soon as he got in the water. He dives a lot with Ocean Concepts and has a huge camera setup. He just goes off on his own and they keep an eye on him, but he is always first in and last out.

Shawn and I were in the water waiting for all the others to show up and he said to me, "you really didn't think you would dive with Brad did you?" I said I figured not and he said, "see you on the bottom." So I headed down and was the first one on the wreck. That gave me a chance to see what was hanging around and get a few photos before the crowd showed up.

There were several Spotted Eagle Rays hanging around the wreck and before the rest of the divers got down, I managed to get a couple of good photos. As the rest of the divers showed up, the rays simply glided away. Not far away, but pretty much out of photo range where they hung out for the rest of the dive.

Spotted Eagle Rays

Even though I did not have a buddy, I was not really diving solo. I did enjoy my dive even more than normal though because I was not trying to keep track of someone else, and could concentrate on moving slowly and looking for things to photograph. I took many more photos than normal because of that.

Here are a few of the highlights:

Juvenile Psychedelic Wrasse

School of Bluestripe Snapper and Goatfish

Orange Cup Coral

Shortnose Wrasse

Pearly Soldierfish

Scrawled Filefish

Milletseed, Blacklip and Bluestripe Butterflyfish

Agile Chromis

Orange Cup Coral

Yellow-Spotted Guard Crab

Diver Below on Ascent

When I ran out of bottom time, I slowly ascended up the mast and did my safety stop under the boat. This was one of my most enjoyable dives to-date. I really enjoyed the slow pace and just hanging out watching what the critters were doing.

The second dive played out pretty much like the first one. Brad was in the water and gone as soon as we were moored, so Shawn said "see you on the bottom" and I headed down under the boat. I was taking some photos when everyone else descended and they all took off on the tour of the site without me. I know this site very well and could have caught them, but decided to just hang around near the boat and take photos. I got some pretty good ones.

Female Spotted Boxfish

Ornate Wrasse

Banded Coral Shrimp & Spiny Brittle Star

Needle-Spined Urchin

Banded Urchin

Rock Boring Urchin

Hawaiian Whitespotted Toby

As I was swimming along, suddenly this guy showed up to my left swimming right with me. He was close enough I could have reached out and touched him, so I had to lean right to get the photos and the video.

Green Sea Turtle

After swimming for a little way with the turtle, I took a few more photos as I swam back to the mooring line.

Bluespotted Cornetfish

Male Spotted Boxfish

Green Linckia

Flea Cone

Back under the boat, there was a large antler coral head that I checked out. It was full of little critters. I spent the rest of the dive, even after all the rest of the divers returned, taking photos of what was inside it.

Speckled Scorpionfish and Yellow-Spotted Guard Crab

Speckled Scorpionfish

Leaf Scorpionfish

Redbarred Hawkfish

Blueeye Damselfish

Ten-Lined Urchin