A wedding trip to Arizona....

 

View of Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell

(from hotel Thursday night)

Jena and I drove from Provo to Page, AZ, spent the night there and then went the rest of the way to Mesa to my sister's Valerie's house.  Her daughter, Landi, got married on Saturday, May 29, 2010 to Ralph.  We are excited to add him to our family.  I forgot to take the camera to the temple so no pictures from there, but it was pretty and hot..................

                  The entrance to the reception.

Landi had taught Engish in China for a year and then served her mission in Taiwan, so she went for an Asian theme. They had Chinese food, paper cranes for good fortune, and of course, fortune cookies that were black or purple. It was very pretty and unique.

Two pretty girls in purple

Jena with her cousin, Kylie.

Grandpa Mike playing follow the leader with Jay and Audrey

(I wonder what his students at Texas Tech would think??!!)

Cousins under the purple umbrulla

At Valerie's after the reception

Let the Giberson Game playing begin...

As is typical of Giberson gathering, we managed to fit a few games around the wedding activities.  Lance even challenged Ralph, Nate (Kristen's boyfriend), and Tommy (Kara's boyfriend) to three chess games at once.  He said that they had to beat him to marry one of his daughters......Nate was the only one that won, but Ralph still married Landi the next day.  Hopefully he will practice up while they live in Alaska so he can win the rematch when it happens...............

Kara and Tommy in the kitchen making cookies together....

Ipson cousins plus one.....hanging out.

For our final day there, we joined in the monthly running of the Ipson Family and Friends 5K run.  Usually held on the last Saturday of each month, it was changed because of the wedding.  We were signed in according to divisions based on age and mode of transportation--running, walking, or biking.  Mike and I were the leaders in the walking divisions,,,but our time is a secret.  Jena ran with her cousins for the first couple of blocks and then joined us and walked about half of it before catching a ride with her cousin, Jarom.
(picture:  Jena signing in before the start of the race....)

Lining up for the start of the race.  I think there were around 20 people who were involved in one way or another.  They even had water, bananas, and oranges at the end of the race for us. 

Coming in toward the finish line....

We made it but the best part was walking and talking with my brother, Mike.  We don't often have a time just the two of us to talk.  It was great.

We headed home (we got home on Tuesday around noon) later that day after spending some time in the swimming pool.  Sorry it is my blog and I don't have to post pictures of me swimming if I don't want to.  :)