Life is just a sequence of Reoccuring Events

Travel Journal

The historian in me makes me keep every little nick-knack I acquire on a trip. So for the past nine years I have hung onto things from my trip to Germany and Switzerland back in 2007. Finally I've come up with a way to get rid of the smaller papers. I've created my own travel journal:

And bought a coin album to put all my foreign coins into.

Then I wrote down day by day the things I could remember and glued in the papers and pictures that pertained to that day. It turned out really cool and I still have room in the book for more trips.

My next big trip is going to be Costa Rica at the end of July...I can't wait.

Baby Shower for Sister-In-Law Nicole

We have a new little guy on the way so we put on a nice baby shower for my sister-in-law Nicole. It is nice having family close enough to enjoy things like this. I wanted to do something other than buying cute baby clothes. So I decided to paint something cute for the little one. With every grand baby my mom comes up with an animal theme. This one is going to be whales and little Dan, his older brother, was lions. On a break at work I sketched out this idea:

Since the shower was only a week away I choose to paint it in Acrylic instead of my oils.

Then I outlined it with a sharpie and it turned out better than I could have hoped:

The shower was held at a friends home and we had a nice turn out. And Nicole got a lot of cute stuff for the little guy. Here are some pictures:

Nicole, lady of the hour

The loot

It was a fun morning and looks like Mike and Nicole are getting all set for the new baby. I can't wait to meet him.

Doug's 32nd Birthday

May began with my brother Doug's birthday. He never tells us what he wants to do for his birthday so my other brother Mike took Doug to see the new Captain America movie and then we celebrated with Pizza and an ice cream cake. Sadly mom got sick after the movie and was in bed for dinner and cake.

3+2=5

Dad thought the paper said Birthday not Baby...

Here is to many more birthdays, Bro!

Recap of April

The beginning of April was not too fun. I got my annual cold. I left work early on two days....I never do that. But it was a serious sinus infection that totally wiped me out. Luckily the weekend I was sick was also General Conference weekend. So I didn't have to do anything but lay on the couch and relax. This conference's theme was "Teaching your children and strengthening our families" along with the message that "We either believe the teachings of the church or we don't!" It's pretty simple.

Mom took some time to travel up to Seattle to visit my brother Tony's family and the kiddos. She was gone for three weeks. During that time I discovered and got completely hooked on the Shadowhunters book series by Cassandra Clare....I read nine books in under three weeks...it was totally worth it. Great series.

Sooooo those three weeks are a bet hazy to me. I was kind of engrossed in a different world.

After I finished the books I got my Dad to go hiking Calico Basin with me. I just got some new hiking boots and wanted to try them out. Here are some pictures of our hike:

The rocks were poka-dotted

Then it was my mom's birthday. She came home in time for that and Dad kidnapped her for a fun birthday just the two of them. They saw the Blue Man Group and ate at a fancy restaurant and then spent the night at the Red Rock Casino. That same weekend my cousin Kaytie and her family came for a visit. We took them up to the Calico Basin...it had been raining so we saw a lot of little animals running around.

Road runner

Then we had a family party for Mom with a snickerdoodle cake.

....and before we knew it it was May!

Recap of March

A lot has happened in the last few months, I haven't found the time to sit down and work on my blog. So here I am in May working on the happenings for March.

The month began with one of my friend's birthdays. She has a fear of heights and wanted to overcome some of it so she invited her friends to join her on a ride around the High Roller. The High Roller is a huge observation wheel down on the Strip. Locals get on for half price so it was worth a trip. I rarely go down to the Strip so it was nice to have a fun reason to. Here are some pictures:

Me and Doug

The Gang

After the ride we had ice cream at the Ghirardelli chocolate shop down the street....yummy...

Following our adventure on the High Roller, St. Patrick's Day fast approached. Not only is March 17th that fun green holiday it is also the day I returned from my mission...its been 5 years. I can't believe it. As become tradition I made my Irish Apple Cake to celebrate the day...I think I get better and better at making it each year.

I was even successful in making the custard this year. Yay me!

Spring time also came to the desert, I had fun taking some pictures of the flowers:

The wind knocked all my plum blossoms off.

I saw some critters on my evening walks. A rat and a Raven eating a rat...fun times:

Then one Sunday, my father asked if I would be his co-pilot driving to California for a cousin's baby blessing. So I found myself in my dad's Porsche taking a one day road trip. Three hours there....hour visiting....and three hours back home. It was a long day.