Easter fun

So we start this post with an update - the meds are working and I'm feeling better, although my energy levels aren't near to normal yet. I still have another 6 days of antibiotics and then I hope things will get closer to normal. One word of advice - don't get pneumonia!

So for Easter this year we changed one detail - we ate out for lunch rather than cooking a big meal. That seemed to work out just fine as we went to the Mongolian BBQ place in Springville. We ate lunch there and picked up a kit to color Easter eggs at the Walmart nearby. When we got to Mom & Dad's house we found that the Easter bunny had already made his stop.


As the family tradition dictates, the kids got new Sunday clothes and lots of other goodies in their baskets. After going through the baskets, the kids colored Easter eggs. Unbeknownst to them, the Easter bunny was dropping eggs outside while they were having fun. So we all went outside and gathered all of the eggs.


I think Granny and Papa had as much fun as the kids running around in the yard.



When it was all said and done, there was way too much candy to be eaten.

On a tangent here, I caught Bryant in the middle of his new favorite thing - buttoning his own buttons. Notice the concentration and focus he's giving to it - it's really funny to watch.



You might have noticed the scratches/bruises on his fingers and wrist. That's a story in itself that I have to share. So Bryant gets to go to a friend's house every once in a while for playgroup. Well, one day recently while being over there his friend's mother was running late and took a shower after Bryant had gotten there. Bryant and David (his friend) can get pretty wild when they get together. This particular day they found the treadmill and somehow managed to turn it on - while Bryant was standing on it. Well, I think the rest is self-evident. He fell and somehow got caught on the side or the end. He got "road rash" on both arms - mostly between the elbows and hands. It scared him pretty bad. The rest of the story was that the friend knew he wasn't supposed to play on the treadmill and also got bumped and bruised. The mother felt bad, but we all chuckle about it now. I would have loved to catch that on video just to see their faces as the thing started up...

Finally, here's a picture of the new Sunday outfits - sorry Mom, I took this before the bows were put in the girls' hair.


Happy Easter!

Pneumonia strikes

This week has been one of the most difficult in a while - I've been sick since Monday afternoon and found out yesterday that it's pneumonia. Now that I'm on the meds it's not as miserable, but it's still hard to move around very much and also difficult to stay asleep through the night. I know we're behind with the Easter photos and such and maybe I'll have the energy to do some of that this weekend.

Torrey Pines and La Jolla cove

First, happy birthday to my sister Lenna! The ripe old age of 28 - I hope you've had a good day.

Now that the time has changed (yay more light!) I've had a chance to see a couple of beaches here in the San Diego area. It's kinda nice since I've been given a convertible to drive both last week (VW Beetle) and this week (Nissan 350Z). It's the little things like this that help to keep me sane. I thought I'd share a few pics that I took with my phone.

First I went to Torrey Pines - a state park area with a long coast line. I can leave the office at about 6pm and we have light until a little after 7pm. As you can see from the pics below, much of the beach area runs up to a cliff.



I took a walk on the beach here one evening as the tide was coming in and took a hike up on top of the cliff the next evening. The picture below was taken from a lookout point on the trail.

Last night I went into La Jolla (pronounced la-hoya for those that don't speak Mexican) for dinner with a coworker. We parked the car at La Jolla cove and took a walk at the park/beach area there on our way to the restaurant. We saw dolphins in the water not to far off of the shore and watched a few crazy people go body surfing in the cold water.


The pics aren't all that great, but it at least gives me something that I can share. I'd like to say that all of my time in CA is nice and relaxing, but it's not. On the other hand I think moments where I can spend some time to unwind in such a nice setting makes all the work I'm doing bearable. I will actually be at home next week and hopefully starting a rotation schedule so I'm not gone all week every week.

Enjoy!

The tools of the trade

There's not a lot new to report this week - at least no major news that I'm aware of...

Rachel is here next to me and wanted me to remind everyone:
"Easter is coming soon. It is next Sunday. That's it. I also want to put that I miss 'em."

It's home improvement time - spring cleaning and all that junk. I've had Scott down the past couple Saturdays to help reorganize and clean out some of the crap from our garage. We've had some boxes and other miscellaneous junk items that we've thrown in to the garage since about Christmas time. Knowing that my yard projects are just around the corner it made sense to get this done sooner than later.

One of the other motivating factors for the cleaning was the recent purchases of my new favorite toys/tools. You girls should be equally excited...

First came the 12" compound miter saw at Christmas - great for making all sorts of quick and angled cuts on boards. Perfect for trim projects and the girls' craft boards.

The more recent purchase was the 10" table saw which took us two Saturdays to assemble and adjust to square. The reason it took two weekends was all of the crap we were moving around and tossing to make sure we had the space to work...


In addition to these tools I've invested in a new router and router table for making all the nice embellishments to wood. Don't forget the shop vac that I can connect to each of these tools to minimize the dust that needs to be cleaned after playing. The only thing missing is the third car garage to keep this stuff in its own area. Maybe the next house...

I just wanted to let the family know that you're welcome to come and use these tools when you have a project. I also guess that means that Dad can get rid of his trusty old (hazardous, heavy, somewhat reliable) saws when he feels he can part with them. ;-)

Beware the ides of March

So it's March. One of Rachel's first homework assignments this month was to watch the weather and determine if the month came in like a lion or a lamb. Rachel said it came in like a lion so I hope that the wind and cold will die down as the month moves on. It's actually been quite nice this past week. I was comfortable in downtown SLC in short sleeves and Saturday was a nice working day.

This is the first week that I've been "home" during the week. Omniture actually got me a room at the Little America for our conference this week, so I wasn't literally at home, but being in Utah was helpful. I had Friday off to run errands and I had Scotty come help me with some cleaning and garage projects on Saturday. I love long weekends.

We celebrated Heather's birthday yesterday as well. It's actually the 12th, but because people have time on the weekends and the fact that I will be gone during the week we did it this weekend. Heather requested glazed ham and pineapple on the rotisserie. We added baked beans, funeral potatoes, salad and rolls to top off the meal. We wish the rest of the family were here to share it.

After the meal I worked Scott in a round of Guitar Hero, nearly tripling his score. He wasn't too happy about that. Then we played Uno. Bryant wanted to be partners with Nate and we had a good time with that. Bry was in charge of getting the cards and putting them down. He showed us all the red 8, then Nate realized what was going on.



Heather has still not been 100%. We think that the chiropractics have helped her so much that she now gets to experience normal pregnancy. She currently can't eat much at once without feeling the nausea. We all hope it passes soon.


Finally, mom wanted to take a picture of Kirsta's growing waistline. Here are a couple of pics for your enjoyment. It took a little coaxing of Nate to pose for the picture, but you be the judge - who's bigger? Nate or Kirsta?

Random stuff

So Dad had his 53rd this year. This is what he looked like the Sunday we celebrated. Not long after this pic he headed off to teach a genealogy class.


This is what Iggy looked like on the same day. What an old cat!


I surprised the girls when I took this picture. I think Rachel is licking some ice in her cup. Kaylee was balancing on her hands between the chairs.


Look at what Bryant has in his hands - yep it's legos. He's playing with a horse and a guy with no arms. We stole some of Scotty's legos one day. Bryant likes to stack them and pretend fight with them. Soon he'll be creating cities and tunnels for his train set - I'm sure of it.


Finally, this is a pic I took one morning when I was walking into the office in San Diego. This was taken about 7am - just before the sun came up. Our offices are on the top 2 floors in the building on the left. I've always liked palm trees...