Cadillac Ranch

Art or a waste of money? Some extremely wealthy dude buried 10 Cadillacs in the ground in the name of art. They are just thick with paint from all of the grafitti. Kelly added to the texture and color by painting our initials on one of the cars. I'm sure it won't be long before it is painted over. Weird type of art, but it was a fun place to visit even though it was extremely cold and windy that day. And, it made for some interesting pictures.

Longhorns

Check out those amazing horns! I loved seeing real longhorn cattle. I have read many stories about them but had never seen one. I got to see these while I was in Texas.

What an adorable family!

How is it possible to take a bad picture of such wonderful subject matter? Actually, I took a lot of bad pictures, but I also got some very nice pictures. This was a learning experience for me to take these pictures for Charity's family. I learned many things and managed to get some nice pictures in the process. I hope that their family likes what I did. Brendon even managed to cooperate long enough for me to get some good pictures of him.

I spent some time on Temple Sguare last night. Took around 70 pictures. It was too dark to take many more and I was meeting some friends for dinner. I will go down again sometime in the next couple weeks and take pictures as long as I want to.

The friends I met for dinner were from Scotland and Whales. It was so much fun hearing about what they had found so unusual about visiting the United States. They said the food is a lot different than what they are used to. They sat there and went over the menu forever becaused they weren't familiar with the food. They didn't like our bacon or gravy and they thought that mashed potatoes with garlic and butter was just horrible.

It was a lot of fun meeting them and we had a good time. And, if I ever go to Whales, I have a place to stay.

Vacation

I know this isn't everyone's idea of the ideal vacation spot.....but, I had a wonderful 6 relaxing days in the thriving metropolis of Wells, Nevada. I got to visit with my parents. I had time to work on Christmas gifts for my kids. I read two entire books. I took a nice drive with my camera and took pictures. You have to agree that there is a certain beauty to the area.

I spent Thanksgiving there with my parents, my oldest sister and 2 of my brothers. My sister brought her dogs and my oldest brother brought 2 of his 3 children. We had 11 people there for the holiday. It was so good to see my family. I miss my family and wish that I could live really close to all of them so I could see them whenever I wanted.

And, while I was there I learned how to change the wipers on my van. That was the accomplishment I was proud about. :-) I did it there so my dad could help me and lo and behold, it was one of the easiest things I have done in forever. But, just that fact that I could do that for myself was a big thing to me. I am thankful for all my parents have taught me so that I can be self-sufficient.

I love my family. I enjoyed my stay in Wells (my birthplace) and I missed my kids while I was gone. It is good to be back home.

Michael

Nice guitar, isn't it. Oh wait.....This post is about Michael, the one that is making that guitar sound so good. I taught him a couple things on the guitar and he has mastered it.

Thanks to Michael, my home is full of music. He took piano lessons for a number of years and plays exceptionally well. He was the hit of his class in Junior High when he played Jon Schmit's "Waterfall" for the talent show. This year he is in choir and instead of singing, they have him playing the piano for most of theri songs.

Even through all the difficulties he has had the past little while, he would still play the piano almost every day. What a blessing he is to me and our family as he brightens our lives with his music.

My Matthew

You know how you are always getting your kids names confused? Well, I used to start to say Michael when I was going to talk to Matthew and then I would correct myself saying, "Mi....Matthew". One day Matthew asked me, "Mom, how come I am YOUR Matthew?" I almost always refer to him, when speaking about him, as My Matthew.

Matthew got his Grandma John's ear for music. He can hear something once and have it memorized. He doesn't play the piano much anymore but when he is singing he can hear the part and pick it up very quickly.

Matthew lives with his dad and I don't get to see him much. I miss him but he seems to be happy where he is. He gets lots of attention from his grandparents (his dad lives with his parents). And, if Matthew is happy, then I am happy.

This is My Brother!

Ugh! Math

I passed my math class today!! I had to take Welding Math as one of my classes. Math has never been one of my strong points. I was constantly asking Michael to help me. I think he thought is was kinda cool to be able to help him mom with math. But the class is all done and now I can breathe a huge sigh of relief.
I'm learning to stick or arc weld. I fianlly got some individual instruction today and things went much better after that. Hope I get to do some more cutting next. I love to chop metal up into tiny little pieces - it is just so satisfying to have that much power. :-)
My other class is Computer Literacy. I should finish it next week. It has been a good class. I've learned how to create Excel Spreadsheets and how to do Powerpoint Presentations. Megan was cute the first time I was doing Powerpoint homework. She said, "Mom I know how to do this. Do you need any help?" Kinda freaky when you have to take a class to learn things that your young kids are learning in grade school.
There are a couple more classes I need to take and then I will get to spend the entire day welding! When I hit that point I may just drop back to 2 class periods a day so I will have more time to be a mom.

Jethro Tull !!!

I had the best date ever! We drove to Denver to see Jethro Tull in concert. The concert was held in the Red Rocks Amphitheater. It was a beautiful venue for a concert. The concert was way awesome! Jethro Tull is a must see. The music was great and the date was a lot of fun.

Megan

Megan - my buddie, my friend, my sweetie. I would be lost without this cute little girl who isn't very little any more. She is going to be in 5th grade this year and she can hardly wait for school to start.

I can't imagine my life without Megan. I love to hear he talk. She uses a very extensive vocabulary. Sometimes I wonder where she learned some of the words she uses. I guess from listening to other people talk.

Megan is very in tune to other people. She is always aware of what is happening around her and how it is affecting those she cares about. She is the first to seek out the new kids at school and bring them into her circle of friends. Her capacity to love astounds me.

We have a great time together. She is always near doing whatever I am doing. I love to have her leaning on my as I work or as I sit in church. I love my baby girl!

What a cutie!

We blessed this little cutie this past Sunday. This is my nephew, Samuel. We had a great time hanging out together as a family and visiting.

My Jewelry

These are just a few pieces of my jewelry that I make. I got started making it for a contest I wanted to enter and I got hooked and now I can't stop. But, I do manage to bring in a little bit of money doing this so I guess I don't have to stop any time soon.

I enjoy doing this particular hobby because I can create something without copying. I can imagine it and create it. I love to see someting that is totally mine come to life. What a rush!

McKay

Thought I would write this blog about McKay because I am missing him. He is at scout camp this week and it is so very quiet around the house without him here. McKay is so full of life and he always has friends around. Without him here, things are rather dull.

The baseball pictures are from his All-Star team. He played center and left field and pitcher. Once in awhile he would play second base. His cousin Tag was on the team with him and they fun playing together. They almost made it all the way to state. They missed it by one game.

Hi!

Welcome to my world. A world of.....whatever I want to blog. It could be all about my kids one day, about my hobbies the next, and the next I could entertain you with scary dating stories. I don't have a lot of time to entertain you right now, because it took me longer than I thought to set this up and if I don't get moving I will be late for school. So....until next time......