 |
| First course at Sakura |
 |
| Chef Show |
 |
| So many choices at Beyond Bread |
 |
| Enough with the pictures...I can't wait much longer! |
Family, Friends, and Fun
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Date for Craig
I'll post the photos and Craig can provide the commentary someday...
Like Father, Like Son
We enjoyed having Craig home with us last year. Craig and Dad make quite a pair!
 |
| Togetherness on a Sunday afternoon |
 |
| TBTI |
13th Anniversary celebration
For the record, we also celebrated our 13th anniversary in 2010. I made one of Dad's favorite desserts, an apple pie, and Dad brought me flowers. (Thanks to Craig for being our photographer.)
 |
| Bruce and Mary Lee, Jan. 16, 2010 |
14th Anniversary Celebration
We celebrated our14 years of marriage at the temple on Saturday, Jan. 15th this year, since our anniversary fell on Sunday. We did sealings--a great way to remember the covenants we have made.
Here's our "official" anniversary portrait on Sunday.
I think it will be fun some day to see the progression of all our anniversary pictures....or maybe not :). Maybe Dad will continue to look like he's 26 and I will...not. In any case, I'm sure glad I married this wonderful man!
 |
| Dad and Mary Lee near Ken's condo in Mesa |
 |
| Bruce and Mary Lee, Jan. 16, 2011. Yep, that's a Pashmina shawl from Jerusalem! |
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Burning the Christmas Tree
This post documents a long-standing family tradition: the burning of the Christmas tree, which is a lot more exciting than taking all the ornaments off and putting them away.
Craig prepares to light the tree.
Bruce tries to light both sides.
Quick! Get out of the way!
The tree is consumed.
Craig checks something...to see if it's still hot?!
A great beginning to a new year.
Craig prepares to light the tree.
 |
| 5:47 p.m |
Craig lights the top, but it soon goes out.
 |
| 50 seconds later |
 |
| 58 seconds later |
 |
| 1 second later |
 |
| 1 minute, 8 seconds later |
 |
| 1 minute later. Total time elapsed is 2 minutes 54 seconds! |
What good could come of this?
Recently we had a hard freeze in Tucson. The temperature dropped all the way to 3 degrees with wind chill. (Okay, those of you living north of here can stop snickering. It was cold for us!)
Heeding the warning of the impending freeze, Dad ran out to buy a couple of small space heaters to put under the citrus trees in an attempt to keep them from freezing. It didn't work, but we were sure glad to have those heaters when our gas was shut off the next day--along with about 30,000 other homes!
So we had no gas and no hot water for about three days. Dad got to escape to the office every day and enjoy the heat there, while I managed to stay toasty warm by using the space heater in the bedroom and keeping the door closed. We heated up water on the stove for our baths, which wasn't so bad, except for the very refreshing rinse at the end with water from the tap.
Our adventure ended Saturday afternoon when the Southwest Gas man came to light our pilot lights. On Monday morning I began picking grapefruit and oranges as fast as I could, knowing they wouldn't last long on the tree. Usually, we can eat it at our leisure until about May or so.
As I picked the fruit, I thought, "What good could come of this?" It occurred to me (likely it wasn't my idea) that we could call our neighbors and see if they wanted any fruit, and take bags of fruit to the Empty Nesters get together that evening. So we did. Everyone was really happy to have it. We gave fruit to five neighbors (Merricks, Duerkson-Finnegans, Dahlkes, Raus, and Holmans) and about the same number of ward members.
A lot of good came of the freeze!
Heeding the warning of the impending freeze, Dad ran out to buy a couple of small space heaters to put under the citrus trees in an attempt to keep them from freezing. It didn't work, but we were sure glad to have those heaters when our gas was shut off the next day--along with about 30,000 other homes!
 |
| Our sad citrus trees with frozen leaves. We hope the trees make it. |
So we had no gas and no hot water for about three days. Dad got to escape to the office every day and enjoy the heat there, while I managed to stay toasty warm by using the space heater in the bedroom and keeping the door closed. We heated up water on the stove for our baths, which wasn't so bad, except for the very refreshing rinse at the end with water from the tap.
 |
| Dad staying warm in Michelle's quilt a few days before the big freeze. He loves his quilt! |
Our adventure ended Saturday afternoon when the Southwest Gas man came to light our pilot lights. On Monday morning I began picking grapefruit and oranges as fast as I could, knowing they wouldn't last long on the tree. Usually, we can eat it at our leisure until about May or so.
 |
| Two hours worth of harvest |
As I picked the fruit, I thought, "What good could come of this?" It occurred to me (likely it wasn't my idea) that we could call our neighbors and see if they wanted any fruit, and take bags of fruit to the Empty Nesters get together that evening. So we did. Everyone was really happy to have it. We gave fruit to five neighbors (Merricks, Duerkson-Finnegans, Dahlkes, Raus, and Holmans) and about the same number of ward members.
 |
| See the bee? Several of my bags were buzzing with trapped bees. It was a warm day--about 70 degrees! |
A lot of good came of the freeze!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Christmas With a Capital B-R-R-R
What do you do when you are together with family and the weather outside is so cold that you can't shovel the snow in shorts? Why, you go swimming outside of course. It is really a magical experience when the snow falls gently around and ice starts to form in your hair and the steam from the hot pools makes it hard to see more than ten feet.
At Heise Hot Springs, about 30 miles from Idaho Falls, it was freezing cold as we hurried from the locker room to the pool--you know how it feels when your feet ache just touching the cold concrete, well it was just like that only colder with skiffs of snow at the edges of the pool deck. Even though the temperature in the main pool was 92 degrees, it still felt a little chilly when we jumped out of the 15 degree air. We learned a little trick: After swimming around for awhile, if you get out of the pool and stand at the edge of the pool with your arms outstretched for the count of twelve, when you jump back into the pool it feels nice and warm. (I think it works because by then your brain is as numb as your body.)
Beware of beautiful damsels daring you to stay out in the cold for the count of 100; and then beware of letting Bryan do the counting: 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 M i s s i s s i p p i. I couldn't believe how slow Bryan and Josh were. While there were dilly-dallying around standing in the cold for the count, I managed to jump in twice before they could even do once. And of course were the daredevils rewarded with hot apple pie or hot chocolate? No way! The reward was an ice cold DQ Blizzard (new definition of 'brain freeze). 'Who'd-a-figured?
The second pool was at about 104 degrees and it was toasty. It felt s-o-o-o good to ease into the pool and just cook with the Cooks. Camille wisely stayed home with Tytan, but we missed them both. We wondered how Tytan would handle something as radical as swimming in the winter time.
We were lucky to have Mary Lee's active camera finger operating. She captured the event just right. It is amazing that the lens of the camera didn't fog up. (And it just isn't fair that Josh and Michelle are so doggone photogenic.)
At Heise Hot Springs, about 30 miles from Idaho Falls, it was freezing cold as we hurried from the locker room to the pool--you know how it feels when your feet ache just touching the cold concrete, well it was just like that only colder with skiffs of snow at the edges of the pool deck. Even though the temperature in the main pool was 92 degrees, it still felt a little chilly when we jumped out of the 15 degree air. We learned a little trick: After swimming around for awhile, if you get out of the pool and stand at the edge of the pool with your arms outstretched for the count of twelve, when you jump back into the pool it feels nice and warm. (I think it works because by then your brain is as numb as your body.)
Beware of beautiful damsels daring you to stay out in the cold for the count of 100; and then beware of letting Bryan do the counting: 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 M i s s i s s i p p i. I couldn't believe how slow Bryan and Josh were. While there were dilly-dallying around standing in the cold for the count, I managed to jump in twice before they could even do once. And of course were the daredevils rewarded with hot apple pie or hot chocolate? No way! The reward was an ice cold DQ Blizzard (new definition of 'brain freeze). 'Who'd-a-figured?
The second pool was at about 104 degrees and it was toasty. It felt s-o-o-o good to ease into the pool and just cook with the Cooks. Camille wisely stayed home with Tytan, but we missed them both. We wondered how Tytan would handle something as radical as swimming in the winter time.
We were lucky to have Mary Lee's active camera finger operating. She captured the event just right. It is amazing that the lens of the camera didn't fog up. (And it just isn't fair that Josh and Michelle are so doggone photogenic.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)