Baby Chad

We just spent the weekend in Maryland visiting with Sharon, Greg and the kids. We were able to go a little earlier than the rest of the family, so we got to spend some good quality time with them (and Chad is actually still there while I'm at a conference in Nashville.. so he's still spending quality time). We played wii, hung out, took the girls to and from the bus stop every day and even got to see a very cool dance performance by Angela:





Chad and I were also able to go down to DC on Saturday and do a little site seeing. We ate lunch at Old Emmit's Grill -- one of the oldest eating establishments in DC, and then spent the afternoon at the International Spy Museum -- which is a terribly cool place for any of you planning a DC trip and wondering what to do..

It's so beautiful back there with all the green and trees. It rained the entire time we were there, but we didn't mind too much -- sometimes rain is a refreshing change from the desert.

While we were there, the rest of the family joined us, and Baby Chad was blessed on Sunday night. We were happy we could be there for the event. In honor of his big day, I thought I'd post some of the better family pics..









We had a great weekend and hope we have the opportunity to come out to Maryland again to visit soon.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Disneyland is running a special this year -- everyone gets in free on their Birthday. What a deal? Right? So.. never one to turn down a good deal.. and wanting to go check out all the new 'stuff' since I was there last, which was during High School, Chad and I played hookie from work last Wednesday (Chad's Birthday) and went down and spent a very lovely day at The Happiest Place on Earth :-).

When he got his free ticket, they gave him a special Birthday Button with his name on it and all the Disney employees (and a fair number of guests) were saying 'Happy Birthday Chad!' all day long. Which made Chad feel terribly special and loved.. or at least popular!!

We drove down there fairly early in the morning. It was a really beautiful day.. sunny and 65 and it wasn't terribly crowded, although possibly a tad more than I might have expected for a weekday in April. However, it seemed as if 1/2 the parties there had at least one Birthday Button.. so I'm guessing that little marketing tactic is working out well for them.

We rode all the 'good' rides.. and the longest line we stood in was only an hour.. Pirates, Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, Splash Mountain, Matterhorn, Star Tours, and even Small World. The most amazing part? The ride that was by far in the most demand was the old classic -- Space Moutain. There just must be something about roller coasters in the dark..

One of the highlights of the day was an exhibit that actually reminded me of Epcot called 'Innoventions' which had a 'house of the future' with all the cool toys and gadgets, etc. They also had a small demonstration from ASIMO -- the 'most advanced robot in the world', made by Honda. He was pretty incredible.. here's a short video of him 'dancing':



We started off our evening with an incredible Fireworks show in front of Cinderella's castle. Only Disney can produce such an amazing production.. Even Tinkerbell was flying around doing her magic:



After the show, we hit a few more rides and then headed home at midnight. It was a long day (and the next day wasn't so good).. but it was a lot of fun and definitely a great way to spend a Birthday!!



Happy Birthday Chad!!

Whirlwind Weekend

We took a crazy whirlwind roadtrip at the beginning of April. I left here on Wednesday, April 1st and drove up to Vegas to attend the Glass Craft & Bead Expo. I signed up for two all-day classes on Thursday and Friday to get some more 'formal' training and gain some advanced skills in glass bead making. The Expo actually covered glass blowing, stained glass, fused glass, and flameworking (beads, etc.). After my classes, I spent a lot of cash on new tools and materials. Chad joined me up there on Thursday afternoon and hung out while I was in class and then came to the show with me on Friday afternoon. Some of the glass artists there were AMAZING and it was fun just to admire their work. My classes were terribly helpful and I learned a ton. Here are some pics of the cool beads I made:





And a few more I've made since with my new found skills:







After the show, we drove to Phoenix on Saturday, stopping in at Grandma & Grandpa Johnston's in Kingman for a short lunch visit on the way. We headed out to Mike & Sharon's on Sunday for the blessing of Joshua and to hang out with the family. We had a beautiful Sunday and even took the kids 'treasure hunting' (aka geocaching). Unfortunately, I didn't take any pics of the baby (silly me..), but I did take one of Jake & Trevor, so I figured I'd post it just because..



On Monday morning, after helping Mom hang her new pictures and shelves in the Family Room, we made the trek back home, doing a little shopping along the way...

It was a fun little trip and it was nice to get away for a few days..

Spring!!!

I know it's been forever since I posted anything. I applogize. I have not had any time at all. However, my goal this week is to post a few things just to catch up...

Here's the first:

It's finally Spring!! Honestly, the weather around here has been slightly insane the past couple of months -- it started back in early March. We've have beautiful warm days in the 70's and 80's and then crazy cold ones that never got much above 40 (like last Wednesday where I heard stories of snow flurries in town!!).

However, we've tried to take advantage of the warm weather when it is here and have taken several trips out in the jeep as well as a lovely bicycle ride down by the beach.

Recently, I've heard that they are saying that our current warming trend is here to stay. So.. I thought I'd post a few of the pics from the 'nice' days in the past few months in celebration that winter is finally over!! Yee haw! :-)

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..