Cosmic screensavers

Melinda and the kids got a year pass to the Clark Planetarium. It's really great because besides the dome theater, they have an IMAX which gets the really good IMAX shows, plus all of the 3-D shows as well. Saturday Michel and Brent and their family rode FrontRunner from Roy to Salt Lake for a staycation. We met them at the planetarium and watched Deep Sea 3-D. It was really fun to see all the cousins reach out and try to grab all the fishes and coral that came popping out at them.

Tonight we went and saw one of their "cosmic shows" in the dome theater: Laser U2.


It was actually quite good. Saffy was really impressed with the lasers shining through the fog. I like sitting in the dome with the projections all around because when you see all the images with your perifieral vision as well, it seems almost 3-D and it starts to feel like your actually moving.

John (who had seen it 3 times) said it was worth it the first time, but the third time felt like watching a screensaver. At least it was a really cool screensaver.

Weekly recap

This week was pretty busy for us and I haven't posted anything. Isn't it ironic how when you have things to write about you don't have the time to do it. Sigh.

Here's a smidgen of when we did last week.

• Wednesday we went to Michel's place to see Grandma Gaile who was in town visiting from Florida. Luckily for us she made lots of food because she wasn't expecting us until we phoned her on our way up.
  
• Thursday I taught a class on native plants to a Catholic women's group. I'm trying to get active with my Master Gardener group again.
  
• Friday we went to Connie's book group. We discussed "Golden and Grey" by Louise Arnold. I finished reading it to Miles and Ian in the nick of time.
  
• Saturday Miles and Ian went with me to get a load of compost from the dump. It was my Christmas / birthday present from Arden and Lorriane. I'm so excited that they now have a truck I can borrow!
  

• Sunday (today) we had dinner at Grandma and Grandpas. Melinda worked on making plans for our Passover dinner next Saturday.

Hopefully we can get more sleep this week. I am excited about putting the compost in the garden and to start planting. I guess I better get the wheelbarrow fixed tomorrow.

I also found a new financial plan that looks really helpful. It's pretty revolutionary, so it's pretty hard to understand at first. I think I need to re-read chapter 3 to figure out where this "saved" money comes from. I can't wait until my subscription to "Stop Buying Stuff" comes!

Couple of the hour

Yesterday we had had a wedding and a baby shower for Ruth and Darius. The rest of our family was finally able to meet Darius, and they weren't disappointed. We're so glad that Ruth found such a fine gentleman that takes good care of her. They are such a kind and loving pair. I absolutely can't wait for their baby; he or she is going to be über cute. I mean just look the parents!

Mom and Connie got this fabulous wedding cake that was very elegant (and tasty, too.) Darius cooked up some jambalaya and their was plenty of cornbread.

Clair made a great MC for the night. We did a quick round of Mafia and we were totally bamboozled by the chosen mafia; we had no clue. Speaking of cute babies, Makenna was completely adorable laughing loudly every time we did. Everyone is anxiously awaiting for this years rendition of the "Thanksgiving Song."

Mom hosted the ever-popular Newlywed Game where we found out that Clair has lots of holey socks, Bobby is the only guy Carrie ever gave her real phone number to, Darius likes to ride horses, and I have a diaper in the glove compartment.


My lovely wife Melinda had a good time (probably laughing at me for taking so many pictures.) I used her mom's cool new digital camera and her dad's big flash attachment. Only problem is it makes me want to get a new camera.

Michel brought 3 of her girls and Joy brought Olive, her dog. Olive is my little canine friend. My little hairy, loose-skinned, drooling buddy. We all talked about how we met our significant other. Michel didn't let me forget about the time she made Brent a chessecake to impress him and I pulled the instant mix box out of the trash. Whoa, I was such rude little punk then!


Carrie and Bobby were very gracious to host the party at their house. They have these super high-tech light switches which people kept leaning into and turning out all the lights. I would hazard a guess that their was some smooching going on during those dark episodes.

I got to meet Bobby's mom and dad; Bob and DJ (I don't know if I spelled that right?) Their first "meeting" was pretty funny - Bob and his friends drove up to DJ and her friends and honked at them and drove away. Then DJ met him later and said, "Hey that was you!"

We had a great time. It was cool to have everyone together (though we did miss James who is in China.) Ruth is going to make a great mom and we're so happy to have Darius as a part of our family. Because so many of us are far apart now, it's extra special when we do get together.

Off to China for James

Friday night I had some of my siblings over at my place. We were having a little get-together for my brother James. He's the baby of the family. He's actually 14 years younger than I am, but only 13 years older than my oldest daughter. We're always glad to have him visit; he's great with the kids and really pleasant to be around. He's been going to school in Anchorage so we don't get to see him too often. He's taking a little break from school right now to teach English in China. It should be a really good experience for him. He'll get to visit Hong Kong for a few days before he gets to the mainland. He'll have room and board at the school and they will teach him a little Mandarin. He plans on having time to visit the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and the Terracotta Warriors. It should be very educational and a good experience for him.

It was fun to have my siblings over. I haven't seen Joy for a little while. Her hair has grown out longer and it looks good on her. Also, she brought over her new dog, Olive. She is an adorable young bulldog. She was so much fun to play with, and Ian loved walking around the yard with her. I think it made Melinda kind of nervous though. She wanted me to take a shower to wash off all of the "dog germs" after Olive kissed me. Just imagine Lucy from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" right after Snoopy kissed her, and that would be Melinda. But Olive was just so cute and so fun! She has this loose skin that's so fun to rub, and she is just so solidly built that she's fun to squeeze!

Connie made it over after her Harry Potter book group at Barnes and Noble. She's been really busy at getting book events going over there, and she does a really good job at it.

Clair came over earlier with little Makenna. It seems like school has been keeping him very busy. But you can tell he loves his little baby. He makes a great dad.

Carrie shared tragic pet stories with us. I didn't realize that when little Peaches (the dog) died that James didn't know about until a week later when he asked mom, "Where is Peaches? I have been looking for him all week and I can't find him."

Michel was over with most of her kids. She is starting to teach school this fall so she has been busy getting her classroom ready. The cousins had fun playing together and James enjoyed seeing his nieces and nephews before he had to go.

On Saturday I took James out to do a few errands and then Carrie picked him up in the afternoon so they could hang out and then she was going to drop him off in the airport.

Saturday I also swept up dog hair off the kitchen floor. Still, it would be fun to have a dog to play around with. Melinda is going to be really nervous when she reads this.