My Dad requested a picture of me in a hard hat...so here I am on our jobsite in Burley, Idaho in a man lift 45 feet in the air. Behind me is a section of the milk plant that we are building. In this picture the steel is 52 feet tall, when we are done it will be 110 feet.
The puzzlers really hit it hard today to finish the puzzle of Lake Powell. The built-in flash on my new camera doesn't work and apparently I hit the self-timer getting set up with the on-camera flash so Sam and the others were really laughing at me when the pictures were taken but at least it proves they were able to get it put together.
Second try with the self-timer on by mistake.
First try of getting the puzzlers with the camera set on "self-timer."
Proof that the Lake Powell puzzle was all put together.
Our annual Thanksgiving Day surf trip to San Onofre takes us south on the 5 freeway to the San Diego county line. The freeway exit on the way to favorite surf spots like Old Man's, Church's or Trails is Basilone - the northwest entrance to Camp Pendleton. Today I asked Brian and John if they knew who John Basilone was. This is tougher than the 'name that band' game they like to play by switching radio stations. Since neither one knew who John Basilone was, I took a minute to tell them that he was a Medal of Honor and Navy Cross recipient. He won the Medal of Honor in Guadalcanal in 1942 while serving in the Army. After being discharged, he grew restless and joined the Marines. He returned to action and was killed in action on Iwo Jima in 1945. For his heroic action on Iwo Jima he was awarded the Navy Cross. He is the only man to receive both the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. Much more here: http://www.ocregister.com/news/2004/basilone/
Brian wondering why John didn't wax the nose of the new Randy Gibbs' board. Does make you wonder where Annie picked up her "Karate Kid" surfing style (you'll have to go to the very first post on this blog to compare Brian and Annie's surfing styles).
John leaning into one of the nice waves of the day.
John goes right, Brian goes left. It's good they lined up in the right positions.
OK, so I didn't make the bell today. Before John came in and picked up the camera, I added a few seconds to my season total of about 45 seconds standing on a surfboard. Even if I can't keep up with the boys in the waves, it's a great Turkey Day tradition to get in the water and give it my best shot.
Jack, Beth John and Brian flew in to Los Angeles on Monday night. It has been fun having the family home for Thanksgiving. Jack loves the pool, but was willing to climb out and make the long crawl over the cement to see Grandma. Brian showed his skills as a multi-tasker by texting and staying upright on the Huffy at the same time.
I spent Saturday Nestled in the apple growing foothills of historic Oak Glen, Riley's Farm is a working apple orchard and living history farm featuring pick-your-own fruit, living history education, dinner theater, group banquet facilities and extended, historically-themed overnight stays. The season ended Oct 10 so there was not much going on. Usually they have everything apple to do for the day. We did enjoy a good lunch, a yummy caramel apple and brought home an apple pie. Most of these pictures were taken by a 4 year old. It was a wonderful day and so beautiful just to get out of Orange County.
Ben will need to learn to turn dressers so the drawers are facing inside before he becomes a worthwhile member of any elders quorum.
His pizza, however, looks like that of an experienced pie maker. Pizza boa!
Just wanted to let everyone know that if you would like to spend/waste (you can fill in the appropriate word) more time reading another blog, you can check out "Wiffleball Wednesday". It is a blog I started, for the main purpose of a place to keep our stats online somewhere. We also decided it could be a place to write about our weekly games. My roommates, friends, and I play every Wednesday night and last week we started keeping stats. One of my roommates created an Excel spreadsheet so we have had a lot of fun with that.
Here is the link: www.wiffleballwednesday.blogspot.com
We made it! Following Bob's wishes, I thought I would put up a quick post. We got into the house yesterday, the last box unloaded at about 10:30 last night. I wasn't there, I was too busy hosting a Tick Tock Collection clock party. Emily & I both made some pretty sweet clocks & Mary was the designated babysitter for all of the crying children. It was a pretty busy day & still lots more to do!
I know I have already sent this along to most of you but decided maybe I needed to post it on the blog for the record. Norda actually took two pictures with the new digital camera (we are both still trying to figure it out) so I am including both of them. The surgery went well and I don't have any real pain but Dr. Sharma, who does most of the melanoma surgery in the state, must have decided it was too awkward to bandage so he has just "let it all hang out." I am wearing a pull over with a high collar todayso it won't offend anyones sensibilities if they happen to see me. I will probably do the same thing tomorrow at Rotary, the CVCA board, and The Irving Mayfield New Orleans Jazz orchestra presentation at the Ellen Eccles Theatre. At least I will be able to wash my hair when I shower tomorrow. I will have the stitches removed next Wednesday and get the path report then but in the meantime I am assuming that everything will indicate no residual tumor. More news later on that. After the scar has fully retracted I will probably have Norda take an "after" picture so you can see how much improvement has taken place. Stay tuned for further details!
Halloween, Mac as the cutest clown, Sam being herself, Alex as a nerd (just like his dad)
Alex moving on to the next sport, basketball. Coach Emmett can't help his skills...
McKinley's Halloween concert at the middle school, she is always clowning around.
Sam's last soccer game, lost to Judge 0-1 who went on to win state.
Happy Birthday John!! What a great son, brother, father, husband and friend. Congratulations! We all hope you have a fun day at the BYU game and hanging with Jack and Beth.
We had a fun Halloween this year so I made a slide show with a few (14) pictures. Drag your mouse over the photo & click to see the captions. There is a more extensive version on our family blog (26 pictures) if you feel a need to see more. :) Enjoy!
Joel's 7th birthday party--Star Wars
Light Saber Cake
Party games
Visiting Maxine Grimm in Tooele--She helped establish the Church in both the Philippines (where she lived for many years) and in Indonesia.
Sarah's science project--making mix and shake ice cream using various combinations of milk or half and half with salt, kosher salt or rock salt.
sampling the scientific results
Dash, Anakin Skywalker and Hermione
Dash showing his muscles after a fun evening of literally dashing from home to home trick or treating
A.JPG)
