Sunday, April 19, 2009

Memory Lane - If you're going to San Franscico...

be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...

After we moved to UT my dad and my sister Sara stayed in California. And if you have family in California it's obligatory that you visit them.



We went to the beach and enjoyed the sun.


Here we are...all together now :) Sarah, me, Sandy, Becky and David (Sarah's friend)




Aren't we cute? :)



We made a huge sandcastle. It was just like being 6 again



Later that night we went to the Oakland Temple Pageant. It was fun. We got there a little early and were slightly bored so we stared playing with my camera while we waited.


The next day we went into San Francisco

San Francisco is famous for their steep hilly roads

Down by the piers. And yes I AM sticking my tongue out.
Sarah, Becky and Sandy and the Golden Gate Bridge behind them.


Fog - the hallmark of San Francisco



After wondering around the City for a while we went to Ghirardelli Square were we indulged in an "Earthquake." It's 8 scoops of ice cream with 8 different toppings and you are guaranteed to feel a little sick after eating it, even if there are several of you. But it's GOOD!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Easter

I love this time of year. I love spring and the return of the warm weather. I also love the reminder we have of the life, death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ as we celebrate Easter.

Growing up we usually went to Utah to visit our grandparents since our schools planned Spring break around Easter. That visit usually entailed a egg hunt on Saturday night with all the grandkids. When we stayed home I remember always having a big Easter dinner, but we usually bought and hid our candy on Monday. (candy was half off after Easter you know) I don't think we cared, we still got candy and had fun.

Something that was never really part of our Easter Tradition was the new Easter dresses or hats. However, this year, my roommate Emma decided to wear an Easter hat and went to borrow one from Freda. Unfortunately the only hat she could find didn't really match her dress, but it matched my outfit so I wore Freda's hat and Emma wore her own.



After church we posed for Easter Pictures.It was a beautiful day all around!

Afterwards we had an Easter Dinner. We went untraditional again, having BBQ chicken instead of ham, but it tasted great and we had a good time.

Us sitting around after Easter Dinner


Thursday, April 16, 2009

Memory Lane - Bushes BEGONE!

When my parents bought their house in Orem they inherited 6 foot plus juniper bushes. This wasn't a problem until they actually moved into the house and my mom decided those bushes were OUT of CONTROL and needed to be trimmed...that is until she found out how much it would cost to maintain them and then she decided that they need to GO. Fortunately my parents had the foresight to have several children and those children are willing to work for food and board. Those said children also happened to have friends who would work for pizza. Needless to say my mom jumped on the idea.


(I thought I had a picture of the house before we started, but I couldn't find it, so here's the 1/2 point picture from the street, but it gives you the idea what we were dealing with. Imagine if you can the bushes extending all the way down on the other side of the stairs (where you can see Becky standing in the background.))



So 6 girls and a boy(plus 2 missionaries for a few hours) with a reciprocating saw, pruners and a lot of determination removed over the course of several days about 30 feet of 6 foot plus juniper bushes. We're so COOL!




Half way point picture. We're only cut down the bushes...we haven't removed the debris yet. That's Becky and I in the background taking a break, while mommy takes a picture of us :)



Removing the debris: I say bushes, but I should probably say trees. Some of the main 'branches' were a good 6-8 inches in diameter (Julie hard at work)




So we removed the smaller branches and cut the bigger wood in to 2-3 feet pieces so we could use it as firewood later the year (Sandy, doing much the same as Julie)



Yup...it was hard work. For those of you not familiar with juniper bushes I must inform you that they are prickly, hence my long sleeves, since it was my job to pull the bushes down after my mom or Becky cut them down near their roots. (Julie, Sandy and Me)



After we removed the smaller branches we piled them up in the back yard



and on the driveway. Eventually we used Rachel's truck (the red one in the background) to take them out to the dump.



Here's an "almost done" picture. Only a few bushes to go.



Look, we're even closer to done! Becky and Julie are showing off their stuff :)

Brent came over later that night to help out. He showed those stumps who was boss!


Supervising...Mommy and Gracie. Despite what these pictures show, mom did not spend the whole time of the phone. She usually was the one with the camera and the only time someone else had it was when we were taking breaks and that usually happened when mom got a phone call and so that's when we were able to take pictures of her.



FINISHED!!! It looked great. And later we planned some flowers a long the top so it didn't look so bare.



Dirty: The face of honest hard work :) Showers and Pizza here we come!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Trip down Memory Lane

I was going through my pictures looking for some photos to print and to find some pictures of my grandparents for my brother David and oh the fun memories! And these pictures aren't even that old. I decided that we need to take a trip down memory lane. Over the next few days, weeks or however long (probably until I get tired of it) I will create posts titled
"Memory Lane - ....."

It will be fun!

Let the trip begin!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Our Flowers

Some of you may recall that a week ago I created a post about Flower Therapy and the beautiful flowers we planted in our yard. My roommate Mel is great and provided me with some pictures of all our hard work...seeing it now perhaps you wouldn't believe that it took us several hours of work, but ground was really bad. We had to break it up first and then add some fertilizer and some garden soil and mix it in before we planted the flowers so that our flowers had a chance of surviving and thriving.

We planted a line in front of the house, seen here:
And then some around the two trees in the front of the yard, seen here:Here are some close ups of the Snapdragons and petunias under the trees





Beautiful no? They may not look like much right now, but give them a few more weeks and warmer weather (I'm sorry the 40s and 50s aren't warm, although better then the 30s :)) and they will be growing like crazy!
YAY for flower therapy! Don't you feel better already just looking at them?

Mount Vernon



Mel's family came out to visit April last year and they went out to Mount Vernon and when a ticket costs $15 and an annual pass cost about $5-$10 more it kind of makes since, when you live in the area, to get an annual pass and go a least 2 times (especially since there is NO way you could see everything you would want to see in one visit). Since then Mel and I have been talking about going to Mount Vernon, but it was put off again and again until Saturday April 11th (the day Mel's pass expired of course :))


It was raining, but despite that the parking lots were full and the lines kind of long. I guess Mount Vernon's a good place to visit when it's raining. You can easily spend your whole time inside if you'd like, which is what Mel and I did. Confession...we didn't even make it to the Mansion...we spent all our time in the Museum and Education center (and we still didn't get to see everything in detail, we practically ran through the Education Center's displays.)
At the entrance of the Education Center they have this carving of George Washington's head. No matter where stand, to the left or right or directly in the middle George is looking at you. As you move his gaze follows you. Pretty cool (and kind of creepy at the same time...)

Yes. These are all from the same carving. Amazing what they can do.

They don't allow you to take pictures in the museum, so most of are pictures are from the Education Center or the Ford Orientation Center.

These are from the Ford Orientation Center, where you enter Mount Vernon. We took some pictures to help pass time while we waited for the next video start. The video "We Fight to be Free" gives visitors very brief highlights from George Washington's life.

Melanie joined the Washington Family

Some of the amazing stained glass windows they have on display.

(I'm not actually sure where this picture was taken...Orientation Center or Education Center...take your pick.)

In the Learning Center they have life-size wax figures they created using a life mask of George Washington and then using an aging program they created some young George Washingtons, highlighting some of the major events/times in his life.

Young George at his first job as a surveyor

General George Washington

The swearing in of President Washington

Overall good times. Too bad we ran out of time. But don't worry...I bought an Annual Pass so we'll just have to go again. If there's anyone interested in joining, let me know.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Precious!

It was about 8 am this morning. I was gathering my things to get ready to leave for work when my phone started to ring. I looked at the caller ID and it was my sister Elisabeth's cell phone. I answered of course. Elisabeth got on and and said, "Dallin has something he wants to tell you."
I waited and Dallin got on the phone

"Tank you for my puzzle."

It was SO cute!

About a month ago I was shopping with my roommate Mel, when I say this huge pirate ship puzzle. And the best part is that you can color on the back. I knew that my nephew Dallin would love it. He's amazing at puzzles, so I bought it and sent it to Elisabeth for Dallins birthday (Today!) She carefully hid it until today and then I got a thank you phone call. :)

These pictures are from my visit to Elisabeth and Cameron's house a few weeks after Dallin was born. They grow up so Fast!



Happy Birthday Dallin!