It’s Rhodie Time :)

When I first had the opportunity to come to Seattle several years ago it was spring time.  I immediately fell in love with the place seeing all of the beautiful flowers and the million shades of green.  I still feel the same and more! 

There is a Rhododendron garden near my work so I took an hour at lunch to walk and take pictures.  Locally these plants are called ‘Rhodies’ and we have picked up the habit as well.  We are blessed to have several bushes in our yard and I love it when they bloom in the spring.  I always wanted to plant one of these in Georgia but it was too hot where we lived for them to grow.

I took a couple hundred more pictures but these are some of my favorites.

Little no tooth

you know how it goes lose a tooth and get money. This is her 1st lost tooth.

Expectations

I drove home from Arizona on Tuesday via a rather zig – zig – zaggedy route.  I veered from my route the first time to go to the Grand Canyon.  I followed Interstate 40 for 30 miles, only to find out that the road to the Grand Canyon was closed due to an accident.  I turned around and retraced the 30 miles, deciding along the way that I would visit the meteor crater.  I had a nice visit there and upon leaving I decided that I still had time to see the Grand Canyon and could get there via another route!  I arrived at the Grand Canyon about an hour and a half before sunset.  They canyon is always a place full of color and I imagined that sunset would just add to the dimension of color.

Walking toward the canyon I reminisced about how wonderful it was when I was able to see it for the first time when Mom and I went.  As the canyon came into view it was as spectacular as the first time I saw it.  I could see the beautiful rock layers and the river below.  But I was really taken aback when I looked to the West and saw not the colors that I expected but rather a darkening succession of canyon walls.  It was stunning.  It was nothing like what I expected but it took my breath away! 

 

Carpe Momento

April 1st was serendipitous – so often driving down the hill I see beautiful scenes.  This day was no different except that the snow encrusted trees made the scene even more stunning!  I didn’t have my camera with me and I fought the urge to return home to get it but I finally succumbed and ended up with some of the most beautiful pictures that I have taken in a long time.  It is a lesson in the importance of everyday moments.  It is a lesson in following your instincts.  It is a lesson in seeking perfection despite imperfections (i.e. smudges on my lenses that mess up every pic I take!).  It is a lesson in Carpe Momento – seize the moment.

 

Myrtle Beach

Hello Family!
Its been a while, still trying to figure this whole blog thing out...? But anyways i figured i would get on here and let everyone know that Myself, Jaqui and Jaylin just spent an amazing weekend in Myrtle beach for Easter. It was my first time in Myrtle Beach and it was absolutley gorgeous! We stayed at the Hilton overlooking the ocean. Spent alot of time relaxing in the sun and just enjoying each others company. We had pictures taken and i've posted them to facebook. So... since i dont know how to put them on here i will give you the address and you can check them out there!
Love and miss you all!!
Jayson, Jaqui and Jaylin

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=200411&id=562059881&l=451dac239f

Samantha Maye is in Arizona celebrating her 14th birthday this week and while she was here she got to sit in the Speaker's chair at the original Arizona State Capitol in Downtown Phoenix. Looks pretty good doesn't she?

Easter Spider

I did not have a charge in my camera so no photos, but I wanted you to all know the Easter Spider made his way back to Idaho after a long time gone. He used so much yarn that it was hard to walk around and some of the eggs had to be hidden outside. He even hide an egg on the golf course. Not sure what the neighbors thought of the kids in PJ's looking for an egg on the golf course, but I think it might give them reason to stay a snow bird a little longer next year.

Did any of you see the Easter spider this year?

Holi Festival

As many of you know there is a Hindu Krishna Temple in Salem, UT.  They have many festivals throughout the year.  This weekend was the Holi Festival, also known as the festival of colors.  It is basically a festival to celebrate Spring.  They used to throw ground up flowers but that has gotten too expensive so they throw colored and scented corn starch.

There is about an hour long ceremony with chanting, dancing, and an explanation of the festival for the thousands of people who are there, not because they are observant Hindus, but because it is a pretty good party.  There is a countdown from 20 and then the colors are shared.  They are thrown in the air, or patted onto the people near you.  Hugging is highly encouraged as peace is a big part of the festival.

 

Rugby

I went to a rugby game yesterday; The Wasatch Cup – BYU v Utah.  I just thought that I would share some pictures that I took.

 

Plants, Plants and More Plants

One day a year the US Botanic Gardens opens their "production facility" to the public. The facility is made up of over a dozen greenhouses with computer controlled climates. Among them are:

• Orchids
• Desert Plants
• Medicinals
• Display plants (the plants they grow for the senators offices

The facility is also a "rescue center" for rare and endangered plant species.

Clay knew a lot more than me, but neither of us knew a lot about the plants we saw ... we did spend a few hours saying, "Oh My Heck, that is SO COOL!" We just wanted all of you to be able to say it too (and frankly we are hoping Chuck will post some comments explaining what we saw).

A frente hay un sauce que llora

It has been an insanely long and very emotional four days since I heard about the 8.8 earthquake early Saturday morning. I have been able to find out that everyone I knew in Chillan and Tome is fine. No collapsed houses, no deaths. Things are still very hard there as they continue to have many aftershocks daily and many cities are under curfews because of looting. There are still a few people whose well being I have not been able to find out about however worrying about a few people is much more emotionally doable than worrying about 100's. Chile continues to be in my thoughts and prayers constantly and I am ready to go down in an instant if there is a need (especially if there were a need to provide OT services) but Chile is a strong country and I think that once the initial emergency is over they will not need massive amounts of humanitarian help.