Snow Trip

Last weekend, we went on a snow trip with the YM/YW. We met at the church early in the morning and drove out to Tehachapi Mountain Park (about 45 minutes north of here). We only had a few sleds, so one of the leaders stopped by K-Mart in Tehachapi and bought the only things she could find that she thought would slide -- inflatable rafts and a big camping tarp.

Once we were up on the mountain, we scouted out a beautiful hill that was nice a long and steep and had a jump at the bottom. The kids had a blast, as did many of the leaders (Chad included) and I even went down the hill a few times. We slid down that hill on sleds, garbage can lids, garbage bags, rafts, tarps and some even went down with nothing but their snow pants. 

While the jump at the bottom caused just about everyone to catch some air, we discovered that the inflatable rafts had the least resistance, went the fastest and caused some interesting acrobatic feats. I've posted a movie clip of one of the more impressive runs.. and yes, that is Chad flying through the air. 



It was a perfect day for sledding -- not too cold, not too sunny and not too crowded.  After three hours of snow fun (where some fearless kids and leaders performed some amazing stunts), we drank some hot chocolate and remarked on how amazing it was that no one ended up with any broken bones..

Newest Addtion

We have a new addition to our family.. a 1990 Jeep Wrangler.

It was an exercise in 'be careful what you bid for on ebay cuz you just might win it'.  We put an impossibly low bid in on it, and it just happened to end up being the highest bid in the end.  Needless to say, we got a great deal on it, and to our surprise, when we went to go pick it up (in Ventura at a Cars 4 Charity place), it actually runs!!

Chad spent a couple of nights cleaning it up, replacing the fan belt and welding the muffler back together.  Once complete, we had a running vehicle for perfect for all of our 4 Wheeling Adventures! 

On Valentine's Day, we took it on it's maiden voyage -- out to the hills on the West side of the Valley. Chad had a lot of fun riding around on the dirt trails that go up and down all the hills. I just hung on and tried not to think about how steep some of those trails were. 

There were some great views out there over the valley and the Mountains. It really was a beautiful day and it was fun exploring in places that you can't normally go..

This and That

How in the world did it become March??  Wasn't it New Years just last week??

The last two months have FLOWN by, and I've had little to no free time.. hence the blog silence.  

So just what is it that I've been doing?  The honest answer is nothing terribly exciting, but since you asked..

I've started planning for Girl's Camp.  We're doing 'Ward Camp' this year, so, as the Ward Camp Director, I'm pretty much in charge of the entire thing.  We're going to the beach near Santa Barbara which is going to be awesome and I'm actually pretty excitied about the entire thing.  However, I'm beginning to realize just how much work it is to plan the whole thing.. I've been a tad busy trying to get things rolling, figuring out how to train the YCL's, picking a theme, finding large enough tents to put the girls in, finding someone to take care of food, choosing music, then transcribing the music I found cuz you can't actually buy it in sheet music form, thinking of craft and activity ideas, etc. etc. etc.  It's been a little overwhelming, but I think I might be slowly digging myself out..

On a semi-related note, I've been teaching myself to play the guitar.  This is something i've wanted to do for a while, and Girl's Camp seemed like a good enough excuse to learn.  It's WAY harder than it looks, and I've learned that harp calluses and guitar calluses are definitely not the same.  However, i'm getting better and can actually play some basic stuff which is exciting!!  :-)

I started teaching piano lessons about a year ago when someone in our ward wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.  Since then, I've taken on a couple more students.  This winter, however, has taken the cake.  I now have 8 students and have started turning people away because I just don't have time for any more.  I teach two nights a week from about 6-9 and it's a little on the tiring side.  However, it's definitely been a learning experience, and I am finding that I really do enjoy it.  

I'm still trying to keep up on my flameworking (glass bead making) and spend several hours every weekend experimenting with glass in the garage.  I got a kiln for Christmas (yeah!!) and have now successfully annealed one batch of beads (too many other things to do I guess.. just not enough time to torch!).  I've also signed up to take some classes in Vegas at the end of the month during a big glass expo they have up there.  I'm terribly excited!! :-)

In addition to all of the above, work has been insane, we've started on the landscaping in the back yard, I'm still taking harp lessons, and I got REALLY sick for about a week (even called into work -- not my norm).

Needless to say.. it's been a busy couple of months..