37@sandiegozoo.org

When I was a kid I remember driving places in the family car and always wanting to stop to explore a cave visible from my window or climb a mountain peak. Of course, my requests were met with maybe on the way back. On our way to California to celebrate my birthday weekend my eyes once again met the Zzyzx Exit. I have driven past it a million times and wondered what was there and told myself, "maybe on the way back. " Well I finally got it on the way there. It was beautiful and lightly raining. The road is short and gently winds through Mohave National Preserve. It was a pleasant 30 minute detour.



We spent our first day at Sara's and regrettably didn't take a single picture but Tasha had her camera out to capture the events of the day. I just relaxed. It was nice. We had a little party. We celebrated Chase's 1st and my 37th. It was fun sharing and Chase was a good sport about it.

Sara did an amazing job communicating every little thing that I have mentioned in the last six months that would be nice to have... and I won't even list the gifts because I feel guilty... but a good sort of guilt... but needless to say, everyone went above and beyond.

After the festivities we left for Michelle's Bed & Breakfast.

michelle's new table

birthday breakfast

sara snapped this wonder

the flamingos

the hippo

maggie staring at the sky

the group (maggie loves the baby backpack)

sunlight through the trees

departing picture

Mothership Lands in Vegas

It just so happens to be 1AM. Maggie is running a moderate temperature of 101. She is happily pulling everything out of my wallet while write this. She is cutting through her molars... so I guess the temperature is expected and so is the late night visit.

A couple of months ago we built a spaceship. When I was a kid, I converted a broken food drier into the ultimate rocket ship. I would collect miscellaneous parts from broken things and attach them to my new endeavor. The best gadgets had switches and buttons to help simulate actual space flight. Maggie's ship is a little different but she enjoys it nonetheless.

the perfect green to attract aliens

Spacecraft entry

One last systems check

I think that is the signal for launch off

exploring the front of the ship or is that the back?

a little space dessert to celebrate

systems failure at re-entry

Ah, finally back on Earth, space flight wasn't so bad!

Old News Update

These are some of my favorite non-snow images from Christmas. Documenting the events of the days, mostly lounging around and occasionally gathering people together for a game. This year we played Credit Card Monopoly, original introduced to us by Jeremy and Carly... it has become a tradition to bring a new game every Christmas. Megan played out her first game until her last million vanished... it was a horrible plight but kudos for sticking in until the very end... literally, she ended up playing my properties and won... how is that for life!

Someone is always on the piano. Guess who's hands?

Our welcome sign for Taya at the train station. Quite comical because it took us forever to figure out where we all needed to be standing, spelling backwards with seven people is more difficult than we thought.

Events of the day

My favorite crazy

Maggie enjoyed all the new attention

Rebecca, Maggie, Taylor

I do believe that book is upside down.

Mischief everywhere!

Sisters!

Megan's turn.

Red meets Green

Grandkids with Grandma

Shout-Out to Laura for giving her room up to Grandma every year!

Maggie's First Snow

Almost every year we visit my sister in Vancouver for Christmas. It is always a lot of fun. This year it snowed, perfect snow. We built a modest snowman. We got into a friendly snow fight. I got clobbered by Taya and my nieces. For awhile it seemed like everyone was against me... I am still plotting my revenge!

Old Testament Chart/Bookmark

Sara and I are excited about our new Primary class of nine and ten year olds. We are reading the Old Testament. I put together a little reading chart. It can be broken into 12 months by rows. There are markers every 10 chapters and every 40 chapters to help track progress or provide rewards for achievement. Anyway, we wanted to share it with you. The chart contains selected readings from the Old Testament as part of the LDS seminary program.

Click on image below to download pdf template of the bookmark.



After printing the original... it felt too heavy. Reading the Old Testament is already intimidating enough... so I decided to lighten it up. Hence version 2!




My kids actually preferred the black and white version. Here is version 3 slendered up.

Red Blood

Maggie was climbing off the bed today when she fell. She almost made clean landing but she lost her balance and landed flat on her head. I heard a sharp thump and when I picked her up... her lip was bleeding. Nothing major... just thought it was worth mentioning!