Latest atttempt at watercolor

This is my first attempt at a value painting. I decided to try a portrait, since I just finished a drawing class on portraits. I know it needs help, but I can almost tell who it is supposed to be, which is good for me:) I can make people look like people, but not like they look like... make sense? I had fun trying, which is the best part. I just wanted to share it with all of you and see what you think!

Easter Craziness!

Happy Easter to all of you! I got up Sunday and put some eggs on to boil because I had this cute phone call from Quinton asking if I was making deviled eggs for dinner. I sure was glad I had them cooking! I wouldn't want to let him down. Anyway they were all cooked and getting cooled when Kari got up. She asked me where her boiled eggs were. She looked in the fridge and they weren't there! I told her that I had boiled 2 dozen so there were plenty. It turns out that I took her boiled eggs and re-boiled them with mine! She had even marked on the package that they were boiled. I never even glanced at the package... I was in a hurry to get them done before church! Needless to say, the eggs were well done! ( She is ready to have me committed)

We had a great day at church and a great family dinner, well, partial family dinner. Doug, Jim, Shauntae, Wyatt,Gina, Jason, Kaden and Mckay didn't come. Jim and family visited before but had other family stuff going on! The deviled eggs were even pretty good, some were a little rubbery and the prettiest green color you ever saw, but they got eaten!

It's true, all of you young people out there, age DOES make a difference, your mind does seem to go first!

San Diego Memories

We went to San Diego last week and we had a blast. We were originally going to be the drivers for Kari and three others who were representing Utah State University at an aviation conference. At the last minute the school decided that one of them was old enough to rent a car, so we were no longer needed. We decided to go anyway and I am so glad that we did! The weather was wonderful, the ocean was everything we remembered and more, the food was sooooo good and the company couldn't have been better!

We got to be beach bums as long as we wanted, with no schedule to follow and no one to have to get anywhere. We hung out there until we wanted to see something else, then we would go back to the ocean again. We got to see dolphins that were surfing with the human surfers, all kinds of flowers, birds, animals, whatever we wanted! It was relaxing and fun. We walked about everywhere we went and hardly ever wanted to stop. It is amazing how far you can get when you are walking on the beach!
We went to Old Town twice, just to see it and to eat at their Mexican restaurant. We visited the Mormon Batallion building and met the missionaries there that were from Logan. We went to the temple one day, it is a very pretty temple! I am so glad that we took the time to visit it and go through a session. I will want to go there every time we go back.

We went to the Wild Animal Park and I took some pictures of the animals that I would like to paint pictures of.
We took Kari and her friends out one night so they could have seafood... a once in a lifetime dinner! It was fine until we found out the price of the dinner only included the entree... anything else was separate. The green salad was 8.50 extra, to give a hint as to the price. I didn't know that places would do that! They were packed with people, so they must be used to it there! (I will never complain about the prices of food here again!) We enjoyed watching the girls enjoy their night on the town.
Curtis and I missed the grandkids, every where we went, we would say "Oh, Brookie (or put any other name in here) would have loved to see that, we should have brought her (or him, as the scene changed) with us so she could have seen it! We are going to take one or two with us each time we go, if it is possible, because it is fun to see them enjoy themselves.
We saved our special meal for Friday, our last night there. We went to the Fish Market restaurant on the pier.(Seafood, of course!) It was excellant, we ate too much and Curt got sick during the night. It is pretty rich seafood and he didn't handle it well. Saturday wasn't a good day for him. We had to have our car back at 4:00 p.m. so from the time we checked out of the hotel until then, he stayed in the car while I walked the pier and visited the shops along the way. I had gone to an art gallery on this pier earlier in the week and bought a book about the artists that displayed there. It made it even better when I went back because I knew a little more about them. It was called Wyland Galleries and it had fantastic art in it. He is the official artist for the Olympics. He does the murals of the fish under water that are so neat. I got to take my time and really look at the art, so it was great. I would walk out to the car and check on Curt and then go look some more.

There were transients all over the place with their carts and sleeping bags. I never felt threatened by any of the them, like in other places I have been. They weren't begging or anything, they were just there. I have to say, this is a very relaxed city. We have always liked it there. We went there on our honeymoon and a few times with the kids; once on our anniversary; which was cool. It is a place with lots to do. We tried to find the art museum and the museum of natural history, but took the wrong turn, I guess. We found the zoo; which was by the museums, but could never find them! Even when we were lost, we found our way back to where we needed to be without much problem. We talked about how fun it would be to rent a beach house for a month and just have anyone who wanted to come and visit. (Until we priced the ones down there, maybe someday, but right now, it won't happen!) We can all dream, right?
I had a VERY hard time coming back. Not that I don't love my home town, just that it is so cold here and it is so nice there! We hit the airport here and it was snowing, not at all what we had been enjoying. We had to come back to reality and it wasn't pleasant! It will take time to get used to it again. My memories will last for a long time and it makes it easier to pretend that it is that warm here!
Molly invited us for a sleep-over, so we stopped there on the way home and slept. We got up on Sunday, Cresta made us breakfast, we played with the kids then got home about a half hour before church. It was good to be back, but my mind and heart are still in San Diego!

Final Photos for class

This is the final for my Photography class... The assignment was to take a photo in Brigham City. I took a lot of pictures around the area, but liked this one best. It shows the mountains that I love and a rural setting... that is where my heart is. It is a building on Watery Lane. I think the sunset light on it turned out pretty cool. My teacher also converted it into sepia and it looks neat, too. I think I like the color one better, but can't decide which one to enter in our contest. They are going to be enlarged and mounted, then they will be in a traveling display for a few months in the Brigham area. What do you think?

Screamin' Meanies

Have you ever been complemented for something, and it left you wondering if you had something wrong with you before they said it? I had someone tell me how much better I look now, with the exercising and all, than before I started it. We were in the gym and I was doing some weight training and a very nice person started talking to me and said that. They commented on how they could tell that I had lost weight because of the look of my back, there was less fat, I guess. Then they told me how much better I looked because I have color in my cheeks (I was red and sweaty from exercising) and a happy look in my eye. Now, I know it was meant nicely, but it sure made me wonder if I looked pale, unhappy AND overweight all the time! I think it's great that they noticed what little weight I've lost. 7 lbs. in two months is nothing to get too excited about, but I know I have toned up a little and it is starting to show if you look real hard! I just wonder now what kind of impression I really leave on people. It sure did make me think. I hope I don't come over as an un-happy person. I also hope that my size is not something that stops people from getting to know me. I know one thing... I will be very careful how I word my comments to others, I would never want them to re-think what I said and then think that I said it rudely! Those screamin' meanies in my head did a number on me, and I have to learn to ignore the thoughts that made me wonder about myself, but more than that, I need to make sure that I don't do that to anyone else!

Warm Weather.. Not here of course!

We got to go to St. George and stay in Alan and Jens vacation condo over the weekend. We left on Thursday and came home Sunday night. We dropped my mom at her twin sisters in Laverkin and let her have vacation too! The weather was perfect there! Not hot and not COLD! The kids lived in the pool, they are all mermaids and mermen now! It was soooo hard to come back and face the cold again. I wasn't tired of winter until we went there. There were even flowers blooming... I forgot what they looked like! It was wonderful having the family there. Cresta and Dalan didn't get to come and we missed them. We took Molly and Brookie with us and I do believe that Brookie would move in with her Uncle Al and Aunt Jen, she tried to sneak in to their car to go home... Hid under blankets and everything. She talked about their hike and swimming and everything she saw for most of the trip home. It is so good to see the kids have so much fun. We went to Mesquite for the seafood buffet on Friday night and it was so good. I got to relax and get over the stupid cold that hit me. (Anyway, I hope it is over) I think everyone had a good time. Sometimes that doesn't happen when you have a big group. We had great condo's with plenty of room and beautiful views all around. I'm glad that we got to go and enjoy the time!