Snowshoeing?

On President's Day we decided to go snowshoeing with our friends Kati and Jeff. I'm not sure why we thought that we would even NEED snowshoes considering the way this winter has gone. After trecking over mud patches and packed snow, walking like those people at the pool who think they are snorkling in Hawaii and so wear flippers, we finally stashed our rented snowshoes safely in a bush.

We saw mossicles...

 Crossed bridges (which in showshoes is harder than it looks)

 Enjoyed mountain vistas

Found the biggest icicle ever

Listened to the babbling, icy brook

 And felt that it was, afterall, a great day off.

What's Its Story?

This old truck has been on the Ranch for as long as I can remember. It moves from place to place, a little more orange paint showing under the green from year to year. And I wonder. What's its story?  I like to imagine that it has had numerous adventures  bumping over dusty roads in some far-off place, carrying a truckload of weary road workers maybe, or being drafted and painted army green.

 The windshield wipers, almost invisible among the icicles, are manual. From inside you wipe them back and forth, back and forth. I'd hate to get stuck in a rain or snowstorm...

Whatever the story, this old truck, just like "Lazarus" the old tractor, will always surface somewhere in my memories of the Ranch. The rust and the peeling paint add such character to the old thing. I almost expect it to smile with buck teeth and say, "Hey, I'm Mater. You know, like Tow Mater?"

BYU vs. St Mary's

The crowd says it all.

St. Mary's shot 60 free throws. 60. BYU shot 36.

I got to play with my camera some more.

That's about as much as I want to talk about it...

Last Hurrah in San Diego

Our last trip to San Diego was absolutely beautiful, and it was a great place to try out my Christmas present. This post is really picture heavy because I was so happy about figuring out my new camera, but I always like to look at pictures anyway. We arrived in San Diego just in time to go out to the beach and see the sunset. The tide was low, and the sunset was brilliantly orange.

 We then headed over to Sea World for the last time, and took part in their christmas joy. We even had fun frolicking in a human-sized snowglobe.

 And we had to come to San Diego to actually get some snow... This snow pavilion at Sea World was one of the most popular venues. It was great to see people so thrilled with a little pile of snow.

We went to the Wild Animal Park our second day. I loved taking pictures of all the colorful and exotic birds, as you can see. There were also a lot of babies...baby antelope, a baby gorilla, and baby elephants. See if you can spot them all...

I love the Meerkats. They were out enjoying the sun and relaxing like couch potatoes...what a carefree life.

 We made it out to the beach on Coronado a couple nights as well, and while there weren't clouds during this sunset, it was still absolutely gorgeous. I really had a thing for birds this trip.

 Yes, I know. My jumping is pathetic.

 The Midway

My camera has a pretty nice panorama assist, and it came with a stitching program. This picture was taken on the ferry over to Coronado. We rode bikes from Old Town, took them on the ferry, and rode around Coronado. This was one my favorite activites.

Farewell San Diego. I hope we come back and visit you again one day.

I am glad you are giving my parents back though.

A Very Porter Christmas

Christmas with the Porters was delightful, despite the fact that some sort of stomach bug made its way swiftly from Emily, to Matt, to Brian, to Jon. I was just waiting to wake up in the middle of the night running to the bathroom, but luckily, it never happened. Despite the sickness, everyone was up bright and early before church, opening presents and enjoying the company. It was so fun to have Jake and Christie up from Arizona and Jonathan and Abby and baby Will here from Vegas.

 Deanna cleaned out Brian's closet and framed his map of the Caribbean. Brian loves maps (as you can see by his happy face).

 The day after christmas we went to the Leonardo, a unique, but interesting new museum downtown. They had a word wall where you could create your own words and pictures. Brian came up with the sentence below, complete with a light saber and a tribute to Eric on his mission (we all miss your "envibrant" prescence Eric).

 This interesting piece of art is also like artificial intelligence. It responds to your prescence with movements and lights, cleans the air, and produces all its own energy. It is also incredible to look at.

 We also had fun with the mirrors, a surprisingly simple yet enjoyable display.

 And this is what I got for Christmas...a brand new digital superzoom camera that I already LOVE, even though I have no clue how to use it to its full advantage. I am learning, and am so excited to experiment.

Although it wasn't a white Christmas this year, it was still a fun Christmas with the Porters.

Finals are Over and Christmas is on its Way!

This is what our Kitchen looked like for the weeks leading up to Brian's finals. Also note our dinner just barely squeezing itself on to the dining table. Dinner went about like this:

Me: "Here is dinner sweetie. I'm going to say a prayer."

(I say a short prayer)

Silence

clink of spoon on bowl

patter of furious fingers on keyboard

clink of spoon on bowl

Me: "So how is the studying?"

Brian: "I hate law school"

Ok. Nice chat.

 I just had to get a picture of this...Brian wearing his sweater with his huge books out. Someday I hope it will all be a vague memory.

 But THANKFULLY, finals are over (until next spring when Brian will GRADUATE, and then have to take the bar) and Christmas is almost here. Our stockings are hung by the chimney with care (or thumb tacks) and our tiny little tree is at least adorned with a few lights. There are a few presents waiting under the tree, but most importantly.....

 There are Christmas TREATS!

 These cookies are absolutely delicious. You can find the recipe over at my favorite cooking blog of all time Our Best Bites. I also added some Andes peppermint pieces which I have never seen or used before this year (they are so yummy!). If you like peppermint and chocolate then you will not want to miss these cookies. They are fairly easy and oh so good!

Bring on the pounds, oh Holiday Season, for it wouldn't be the same without them.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.

Pigeons and Friends

This is a pigeon.

But I'm assuming you know that.

Pigeons like cities.

They like to annoy people.

And they like warm cozy roofs of schools.

Especially when the tiles on the overhangs blow off in huge windstorms and they can fly up inside and explore the whole empty space including air vents and the like.

I also think think they like the sound of my voice.

Why else would the pigeons congregate in the ceiling in my classroom and spend the first three hours of the schoolday cooing and fluttering and being an incredible distraction to all my students?

I hope Tom (our building manager) can get them all out. Last year he said this happened and he got six pigeons out of the roof and had to chase them down the hallways at the school and out the door. I can only imagine trying to teach a lesson on metaphor while THAT is going on in and or outside the door of my classroom.

On another note, I got together with some of my best friends in the entire world this weekend. Janie, Amanda, Kati, Annie, and I all had a luncheon (which turned into an entire day, evening, and night) at Janie's house. It was so great to talk about anything and everything with such wonderful people. Janie, Amanda, and I stuck around after the lunch (Annie and Kati had other obligations) and sat on the floor of Janie's living room until 9:30. We didn't even eat dinner or do anything really besides talk and play with Isabelle. It was awesome. I'm glad we are all in the same state, even if we don't see each other as often as I would wish. There is just something about friends that you've known since first grade or before that is simply special. Thanks to all my friends out there, but especially those who still love me even though they know WAY too much about me. I love you all.