Memorial Day Weekend

You might think that a long weekend would provide lots of time for blogging. Not so! I was too busy having fun! So instead I've been saving up all my posts and finally had a chance to work on them tonight ;). So you get a bunch all in a row.

We were lucky enough to have Doug's parent's come visit us over the long weekend.

We had a great time. We mostly ate awesome food and sat around relaxing and visiting. We did take a trip into LA to see the La Brea Tar Pit Museum (very interesting and very stinky--the tar that is). No trip to SoCal is complete without stopping by the beach, so we did that. It was a gorgeous day!

Doug and I in front of the Lake Pit -- those bubbles are ancient gases coming from the center of the earth! (and the animals in the background aren't real)

Doug's cute parents

Fantastic view of the ocean on our way down

My brother the Rocket Scientist!! [Engineer]

My brother Matthew recently graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Utah State University. As part of his senior project his team competed in the 2007-2008 University Student Launch Initiative and they won! Their rocket worked better than lots of other people's rockets. Sorry I don't have much more of a technical explanation than that ;). You can read all about it here.

Way to go little bro! I'm so proud of you!!

You know you're driving in California if...

10. The approaching vehicle has it's high beams on
9. The lady next to you at the stoplight is plucking her eyebrows
8. 50% of the vehicles you see at any given time are luxury models
7. You signal to change lanes and the car next to you speeds up
6. The pizza delivery car is a late model BMW
5. The speed limit equals 20 over what is posted
4. The valet lot you just drove past on your way to self park had a Rolls-Royce and two [that's right TWO] Bentley convertibles
3. Someone cuts into your lane...and then signals
2. There is never more than 20 feet between you and the other cars no matter how fast you're going
1. There is a surf board poking out of the sunroof of the guy behind you

Fun with Photography - Light Tent

Doug found this neat post about how to make a light tent, so a couple weeks ago we gave it a try. It's fun! The box I used is not very big, so we can't fit much in it. I still need to tweak the lighting to get the angles and shadows I want, but it is way fun. I feel like I'm maxing out the capabilities of our little point-and-shoot, though. The two pictures of the scissors demonstrate the range of customization this camera allows. The yellow one is taken on the auto setting, and the more blue one is taken on the tungsten setting.

It's super fun to goof around with this stuff!

Fully automatic setting


Tungsten setting

Here's the set up from the outside. I need to get some better lamps and light bulbs!

Adorable Nephews

I spent the weekend playing with my nieces and nephews. We had so much fun! I had never met Axton, and I got first "dibs" on the baby time. Boy did I take advantage of it! My arms are still a little stiff from all the baby holding exercise.

The whole weekend was full of family celebrations. My brother graduated from college, my nephew received his name and blessing at church, my grandfather celebrated his 75th birthday, and my niece turned 6. It was so wonderful to be with everyone and celebrate as a family. Truly family is the most important thing on earth.

Here are a few pictures of Axton and Lee. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera out to capture pictures of Carson (but don't worry, he's just as cute as these two).

It amazes me to see such a unique blend of the mommy and daddy in these little guys.

Axton slept most of the weekend.

But not the whole time.

Sucking down a lemonade!

Strawberry Season

The other day I was driving home after work. I had the windows down on my car and a pleasant breeze was blowing in my hair. Suddenly my car was filled with the aroma of strawberries! I was driving past a recently harvested strawberry field and the air was thick with the scent of the fresh berries. It was one of those fantastic moments when you close your eyes, breathe deeply and are transported far away from the noise and commotion of traffic and the post-work stress. You're a kid again with a fist full of berries and juices running down your chin and all over your t-shirt.

Strawberries are everywhere right now. I bought them for $0.77 / pound at the grocery store. We made fresh homemade strawberry ice cream -- the best strawberry ice cream I've ever had. I made a gluten-free angel food cake and let the strawberry juices soak into the spongey cake. I am definitely enjoying strawberry season!