Amazing Close-Up Of A Lightning Strike!!!

WOW, respect mother nature.
Dan

I do like some country music...

Well buckaroo, I had a hankerin for a new Cowboy hat. My Son, Sam (That's a good cowboy name) been wantin me to fetch a new hat since the cows had come home so I figured it was time. We strapt on our ole cowkickers and hats, fixed our buckles, (for real) and set off for the park with Momma and the girls. Momma grabbed that new fangled telefoto lens and put it in her napsack as we cleared the pasture. I must say, I'll have to load the scatter gun to keep the cowpokes (boys) away from my lil Marlee, she's quite the looker. Anywho, heres a few of the telefotos that we took at the park. While I am not ready to wear boots everyday, I do admit to loving a good western. John Wayne is a hero of mine. I grew up watching him: She wore a yellow ribbon, True Grit, The Searchers, The Cowboys, to name a few. My Son sure makes a handsome cowboy, and people tell him that where ever he goes too. Now my daughter Marlee, well, you already heard me talking 'bout the scatter gun. We had a fun afternoon.

Dan

Our Easter eggs

These are some pics of us coloring our Paschal eggs, (if you read my last post, you know what I mean). We all had a lot of fun and have enjoyed egg sandwiches for days now. Katie taught her Sunbeam lesson that Sunday and in her lesson, the kids got to hunt for eggs. Well, the eggs were empty and that signified the Risen Lord not being in the tomb. The kids just wondered where the candy was... I don't think they got it. Good try Honey, I liked the lesson. We had a good Easter.

Easter (from Wikipedia)

*Learn something new:
Easter, (according to Wikipedia) also called Pascha, is the most important religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. It celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, which Christians believe occurred on the third day after his crucifixion around AD 33. Many non-religious cultural elements have become part of the holiday, and those aspects are often celebrated by many Christians and non-Christians alike.
Easter also refers to the season of the church year called Eastertide or the Easter Season. Traditionally the Easter Season lasted for the forty days from Easter Day until Ascension Day but now officially lasts for the fifty days until Pentecost. The first week of the Easter Season is known as Easter Week or the Octave of Easter.
Easter is termed a moveable feast because it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. Easter falls at some point between late March and late April each year (early April to early May in Eastern Christianity), following the cycle of the moon. After several centuries of disagreement, all churches accepted the computation of the Alexandrian Church (now the Coptic Church) that Easter is the first Sunday after the first fourteenth day of the moon (the Paschal Full Moon) that is on or after the ecclesiastical vernal equinox.
Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover not only for much of its symbolism but also for its position in the calendar. The Last Supper shared by Jesus and his disciples before his crucifixion is generally thought of as a Passover meal, based on the chronology in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 26:17; Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7). The Gospel of John, however, speaks of the Jewish elders not wanting to enter the hall of Pilate in order "that they might eat the Passover", implying that the Passover meal had not yet occurred (John 18:28; John 19:14). Thus, John places Christ's death at the time of the slaughter of the Passover lamb, which would put the Last Supper slightly before Passover, on 14 Nisan of the Bible's Hebrew calendar. According to The Catholic Encyclopedia, "In fact, the Jewish feast was taken over into the Christian Easter celebration."

Our Roadtrip silly list

The distance between Grand Junction Colorado and Disneyland is exactly 773 miles. Thats pretty far and we saw some cool and some silly things. This list is a compilation of a few of those things: (not in any particular order)

• Just after Green River UT, there is a crazy rock formation (big too) that looks so out of place. It looks like rolling lava that just froze, but its made of white rock?
• Cedar City UT claims to be the Shakespearean capital of the US?..Weird.
• We saw the tallest thermometer in the world, 100ft tall! (Baker, CA)
• Gateway to Death Valley- Which is 282 ft below sea level & can get into the *130's temp.
• We passed a group of about 25 "Hells Angels" motorcyclists, and noticed they were all Chinese!
• We ate at "In and Out", a very popular burger joint that only has 3 things on the menu.
• At the Sand Dunes in St. George with Eardley fam, Lizzie would rub her face right in the sand. She thought it was so soft.
• There is an abandoned water slide park in the middle of the desert in California. What was that person thinking?
• How bout the hotels in Vegas...A huge black pyramid? A bunch of sky scrapers that are connected? A huge castle? A bunch of stone looking columns?

-Dan

Disneyland!!!

We had been waiting for Disneyland for a very long time now. We finally arrived and were so excited. We met Grandma debi, Grandpa Greg and Aunt Millie here and were so excited to share it with them. It was wonderful to have them there. The weather was perfect, 78* and sunny. We had SO much fun, but got a little scared, oddly enuf, in the kids rides. Too dark for Sam and Marlee. Nonetheless, it was wonderful. We even did the night time parade. Marlee really loved all the princesses. It was somthing special to be able to have the twins 4 yr old Birthday party at Disneyland. What a cool thing! My fave ride- Soaring over Cali, Katie- Splash Mtn, Marlee- Teacups, Samuel- Splash mtn, Lizzie- Billy hill and the hillbillies. Lol. Here are some of our fave pics. I will post a slideshow in my next post. Goodbye Mickey, we love you.

St. George, first stop to Cali.

As the prior post alluded to, we spent the twins Birthdays in California! On the way there, we stopped off at Kyle and Sunee's house in St. George. My kids all love it there! So fun kids to play with and plenty of nice weather. While there, we went to some cool sand dunes and hiking areas in Snow Canyon. Here are some pics of our adventure.