Andrew's Blessing

We just had a whirlwind visit from Ma, Pa, Keri, Tanner & Andrew. They were on their way to Monterey and stopped in yesterday afternoon to spend the night. While they were here, some of Keri's friends (Ted, Kari & Roger) came up from Los Angeles and we blessed Andrew in our living room. It was fun to hang out with everyone and to see the baby. He was terribly cute in his little white outfit. They have journeyed on this morning to get out of the desert and spend some time up in the cool weather in Monterey.

Camping with the Boys

Chad spent the last week camping in Big Sur with the Varsity / Venture scouts from our ward. He had eight boys that went and one other leader. They spent the week (Monday - Friday) at the Kirk Creek Campground and generally had a grand ol' time. They hiked around and played at the beach, saw elephant seals and lot of sea critters, and tried to not freeze (apparently the temperature never rose above 60 degrees the entire time they were there). There were a few minor issues (or shall we call them 'adventures'?): There were 800+ fires burning within a 100 mile radius and so they were constantly showered with ash and had to change plans several times due to road closures; They had a racoon that infiltrated camp and took off with some of their food; There were some crazy nudists in camp and another lady on a hike that stripped down and jumped into the creek within feet of where they were; and they had a tad bit of car trouble (a clogged fuel filter) 50 miles from civilization. BUT.. they all made it back alive with lots of stories to tell and that's all that matters..

Here are some pics..

I was Tagged..

My sister, Shel, tagged me....so here goes.

20 Year Tag

20 years ago

1. I was 11.
2. I was in 5th grade at Carminati Elementary in Tempe, AZ
3. I killed Chopin. Well.. not literally.. but my mom had a bust of him on her piano that her friend had made for her. One morning I accidentally hit it and it shattered against the wall into a million pieces. She was so sad.. she didn't talk to me for an entire day.

10 years ago

1. I lived in Seattle for 3 months during my internship with Weyerhauser
2. I had just started learning to play the harp
3. I started my Senior Year at Arizona State

5 years ago

1. I was living in Tucson, working at Raytheon
2. I spent two weeks in Ireland and then came home and started renovations on my house by stripping and repainting the entire kitchen
3. I was called to be RS President in my University Ward

3 years ago

1. I spent an entire year at work in Labor Relations
2. I took an amazing 3 1/2 week trip to Australia & New Zealand
3. I met Chad

1 year ago

1. I got married
2. I moved to California
3. I started working for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics

So far this year ...

1. We've started the landscaping and successfully completed the side yard concrete
2. I started taking harp lessons again
3. We took a nice long vacation to Florida, including a lovely cruise in the Bahamas

Yesterday I . . .

1. Worked for 12 hours (5am - 5pm) and successfully launched the first Visual Factory Board in LM-Palmdale Fabrication
2. Cleaned up the entire house post-scout trip camping preparation
3. Started the laundry

Today I . . . .

1. Worked another REALLY long day
2. Drove all the way down to Santa Clarita to buy some stuff at Costco that we should have bought weeks ago before they sold out in Palmdale
3. Finished the laundry

Tomorrow I will . . .

1. Work yet another REALLY long day
2. Practice the harp long enough to make up for the fact that I haven't practiced in a week
3. Give a piano lesson

In the next year . . .

1. We hope to start our family
2. We hope to finish the backyard
3. I hope to no longer have to work REALLY long days (ok.. maybe that's a hope for the next two months..)

OK, I'm supposed to tag three people... and there are only three left on my list that haven't done it.. Sharon, Shanna & Keri Dawn.


(However, as is always my policy, it is purely voluntary. I have to say though.. it was kinda fun.)

Under the Sea

I finally got the pictures in our underwater camera developed from the trip. Thought I'd post 'em up here for all to enjoy. They are of the day we spent at Coco Cay -- first sailing and then snorkeling. Sorry they are all a bit washed out.. what can I say? Gotta love those disposable cameras! :-) Enjoy!

Just Another Crazy Week..

Seems to be the only kind we have these days. I haven't had much time to post, but here are the highlights:

1. At work, I have successfully launched phase one of my new project. Trust me, the details will bore you, but it was a LOT of work and involved making a LOT of people happy.. and thus far.. it seems to be working.. cross your fingers for me..

2. I went down to Carlsbad last weekend and spent a couple of days with the 'Ladies'. It may be our last year in the Condo (since a wrecking ball is going to tear the place down to make way for bigger and better things). It was a fun couple of days full of good conversation, good food and one beautiful beach (even if the sun went behind some clouds Friday afternoon!!). Here's a picture of the whole crew:













and the view:















3. We have successfully run an entire tank of 50% diesel / 50% recycled vegetable oil through my car with no problems!! Chad has it in his too.. but he's only used a quarter of a tank. It ran quieter, smoother and got the same gas milage! Woo hoo! One step closer to independence from gas prices.

4. We have gone from a 5-car family to a 3-car family. Chad purchased a used Diesel Excursion about a month ago to replace both his Ranger pickup and my Explorer. This left us with 5 cars.. yep.. an entire fleet. In fact, our driveway was beginning to look like a used car lot. However, after this weekend we're back down to three. Chad's brother is going to take the Hyundai off our hands and a nice family came by yesterday and bought the Ranger. So.. anyone out there want a gently used Explorer? In tribute to our fleet.. here are pics of the two that have found new homes:


5. Chad was set apart as YM President today, and yesterday we spent the day with the youth on their annual beach trip. We set out for Manhattan Beach at 9:30am. Got down there, had a hard time finding parking.. finally made it to the beach at 11:00 or so.. and were down there until 3:00 and didn't get home until 6:30. Needless to say we were beat. But.. the beach was beautiful.. the kids had a blast.. everyone made it home alive (although one of the boys did require rescuing by the Lifeguards).. and I do not have one ounce of sunburn on me. Yep.. it was a pretty successful day. Here are a few shots from the beach:

I must admit I HATE being bored.. but now that I'm here, on Sunday night, exhausted and knowing there's just another week of insanity ahead.. I sometimes wish I had just a tad more boredom in my life... and we don't even have any kids yet.. I can't even imagine..

Vacation

I thought I'd start out this lovely blogging experience by posting pics from our recent adventure in Florida & the Bahamas. We flew down to Ft. Lauderdale on May 14th and spent some time with Meesa, Trev & Co. for the first few days. We hung out at the pool, had a BBQ on a boat, went to the alligator farm where we not only saw LOTS of alligators but also went on an awesome airboat ride into the Everglades. We went to the beach and tried to snorkel out to some large sunken jacks that seem to be mysteriously missing (we never did find 'em), we ate ice cream at Jackson's, helped them have a yard sale, listened to them speak in church, scootered around a beautiful neighborhood and took a walk through the jungle. It was a pretty eventful few days and we had a blast. Thanks again guys!! :-) Here are some pics from Ft. Lauderdale:



(If you want to check out some more pics, including the scooter trip.. you can check them out on Meesas blog: www.carterandavryjohnson.blogspot.com. You'll have to click down to May's entries)

Once we'd spent the weekend in Ft. Lauderdale, we went down to Miami and got on a cruise ship headed for the Bahamas. We spent one day in Nassau and one on Coco Cay, a small, private island owned by Royal Caribbean. While in Nassau, we took a Segway tour of Fort Charlotte and the Botanical Gardens that were destroyed in the 2000 hurricane. While the sites weren't terribly exciting, the segways were 'all terrain' and we had loads of fun just riding them around and over pretty much anything we wanted. After the tour we did some shopping and headed back to the boat. All in all, we weren't terribly impressed by Nassau -- it seemed to be the equivalent of Nogales -- just in the Caribbean.

After Nassau came Coco Cay. This island was actually a lot of fun, which wasn't really expected, being owned by a cruise company and all. We spent the day on a beautiful white beach with palm trees and hammocks -- what more could you want out of life? We also rented a small Hobie Cat sailboat and Chad tried out his sailing skills -- which were fairly impressive, if I do say so myself. We sailed around the harbor and actually made it back into dock. We also spent a few hours snorkeling where we saw a lot of terribly cool fish and one very large Manta Ray. The underwater pics are off being developed, so I'll have to post them once I get them back. It was a terribly pleasant day and not a bad way to spend my birthday! :-)

Here are the some of the pics from the Bahamas:



After leaving Coco Cay, we sailed to Key West, FL. It was REALLY hot that day in Key West, so we settled for doing the 'Famous Conch Tour' because it at least kept us relatively cool. It drives all over Key West and talks about their long and sorted history. It was actually terribly interesting, as the island is covered with old houses and tall tales. After the tour, we were looking for a cool place to spend an hour or two and decided upon the Pirate Soul Museum (they seemed to have the only A/C on the island that was functioning properly). We were pleasantly surprised. We learned all about piracy and even saw one of the original skull and crossbones flags as well as a genuine pirate treasure chest. I know, I know, it sounds cheesy. But, if possible, they actually did a fairly good job of taking themselves seriously and we enjoyed it. After that and some shopping, we headed back to the boat to get out of the heat.

Here are some of the pics of Key West:



The next morning we were back in Miami and bid our cruise ship farewell. We spent that day hanging out with Meesa & Trev who took us down to the Las Olas Riverfront to cruise through the 'Yachting Capital of the World' and see the really big boats and the even bigger homes. It was mezmerizing. Wow there's a lot of money down there!!



All in all, it was a great trip. Hanging out with Trev & Meesa was fun, and the cruise was a nice, relaxing way to spend a week. The food wasn't half bad either ;-)

Ah.. if only I could go back..

Peer Pressure

Hello one and all. I have finally given in and joined the blogging community. I know, I know, I'm weak. But, honestly, I have discovered in the recent past how nice it is to just log in and check up on the people I care about. I have to admit I've been bad about keeping in touch of late, mostly from a lack of time, but I'm hoping that this will at least keep people up on what's going on in our lives. Think of it as a whole lot of mass emails that you only have to read if you want to. I don't know how much time I'll have, but I'll post as often as I can. So, check back and hopefully I'll get some stuff up here soon.

Love you all.

Kathryne