Hampton Family

Honey Bee Canyon

2012-01-21T22:49:00.000-08:00

The trail is about 3 miles long (total out-and-back if you go to both dams), with only about 200 feet of elevation gain. The trail follows a sandy wash most of the way and footing is even and level. Ancient people have inhabited the Tucson area for more than 7500 years. Some of the earliest occupants were the Hohokam (AD 450 to around 1200). A settlement near Honey Bee Canyon (now called Honey Bee Village) was inhabited by the Hohokam people. Recent surveys have discovered many large mounds, pit structures, plaza, ball court and other rooms in the area. The only remnants of these ancient people seen on the trail are the petroglyphs.

In the middle of the wash was a large, flat-topped granite boulder pock-marked with several holes used as a grinding slab. These holes more closely resembled a mortar that would have been used with a hammer stone (similar to a pestle). Archaeologists have determined that mortars like these were used to smash the seed pods from mesquite trees.

The trail started out with a very wide wash but luckily the sand was packed from the recent rains. Joshua got a bunch of sand in his shoes but the rest of us did ok.

The trail stays in the wash the whole way but gets full of trees in the first 1/4 mile or so. The kids said this section looked like a scene in the movie True Grit.

This was a good family hike and made it easy on my three year old. He was a trooper the whole way.

This was the old dam that we came to that was used by old sheep farmers. It is located just below the Petroglyphs. It was about 100 more yards up on the right that we found the large rock with the ancient signs.

We found the honey bees as well. There was a water hole with about 25 bees getting a drink.

I talked about the Petroglyphs and the Native Americans that lived in the area so they were very curious because we have never gotten so close to them before. Usually the Petroglyphs are high up and not very accessible but these were right off the trail.

This angle looked like a tortoise to me. The circle looks like the eye with the cracks on the right side of the rock looking like the mouth.

This angle is looking back down the canyon at the Catalina mountains.

Close up of the horned owl. It is very faded but you can still see the representation. There are still many owls in the area. I saw three of them last summer in my friend's backyard drinking out of his pool and on the neighbors roof. When they flew away we went outside to see them on top of some saguaros. Amazing birds that have inhabited the desert for a long time.

Took some shots of the Petroglyphs from the other side of the wash.

Joshua climbed up the side of the mountain to find me. Incredible that he was not full of thorns. He is a little mountain goat.

Tia on top of the world. She seems to be a natural in the desert too.

Marble Track

2012-01-19T18:39:00.000-08:00

The rugrats were getting bored and spending too much time on the Wii so we decided to build something instead. We had a bag of marbles from the dollar store and some hot wheel tracks. The boys didn't want to build another hot wheel track so we came up with the idea to make a Marble Track. We cut up some leftover tubes from Santa's wrapping paper extravaganza and got to work.

We tested our idea to make sure it would keep them rolling in there and then we got very ambitious in our quest to roll the glass marbles.

I couldn't have asked for better helpers. The boys seemed to get a little more enthusiastic after the first few marbles were rolled though, picked up steam and smashed into the walls. We had to fish marbles out from under every couch, table and bookshelf.

Dad was the chief engineer and tube cutter. Joshua kept smashing the track and Jonathan wouldn't share the marbles.

We decided to tape the tubes together on both side to make sure they stayed together. The challenge was finding the beginning of the tape and then picking at it until I could get enough edge to grab.

To make our track longer and flexible we added some hot wheel tracks and started it high on the couch. This enabled us to pick up speed and roll them all the way down to the front door.

We had a hard time finding them when they spilled out of the end so we put a bowl down there to catch them but they kept spilling out.

Our solution was to catch them in Dad's wooden shoes from Holland.

Tia joined in the new marble track maintenance as we could not keep Joshua and Jonathan from stepping on it in their excitement.

Marbles $1.00. Leftover Christmas paper tubes free. Two hours of learning and fun. Priceless.

Vegas Road Trip

2011-11-30T22:38:00.001-08:00

We found some Joshua Trees on our way to Vegas along highway 93 and had to stop for little Joshua. He found some melon treasures on the ground with some pieces of broken glass. No interest in the trees.

It's been about 10 years since we were in Vegas last and things were very different than I remembered. We stopped at the Bellagio and watched the amazing water show. This picture was taken in the lobby entrance on the ceiling.

It wouldn't be Vegas without Elvis. You aint nothin but a hound dog. Joshua and Jonathan were both scared of the cartoon version of the king.

Stopped by the M&M store. Many colors and flavors all for about $15 a pound. Sheesh.

Joshua decided that the free samples were more appealing. He fished out about 10 before we could stop the chocolate burglar.

Happy on the sugar buzz.

The coke store was pretty interesting with the big polar bear that Joshua loved.

The Boys lit up like stars on the strip.

Halloween

2011-11-06T20:44:00.000-08:00

The good Witch of the Northwest, Captain Rex from Star Wars and Master Yoda in front of our neighbor's house. Joshua got a little spooked and distracted by the scary people in the yard and then ran as fast as he could after getting his candy.

Pumpkin Pizza from our favorite take and bake store.

I think these two characters killed each other about 750 times. Chopped off limbs, shot in the eye, jumping through the air and shooting space ships.............

I bought Jonathan's Captain Rex costume last year at a 75% discount from Walmart and thought I had the right size for a 6 year old. I guess the Chinese have a different standard for 6 year olds because Jonathan's costume was tight and short when he put it on. He insisted on not wearing some shorts underneath so you can probably guess how he looked. Sexy Captain Rexy! If you look close enough you can see his smashed nose as well from his awesome mask.

Mater Yoda wouldn't wear his hat so he looks more like a young Padowan with his light saber.

Our witch was super cool and played it like a teenager. This is boring, this is dumb, That is not scary, I wanna go home and e-mail my friends......

Kill you I will. The force is strong with me. Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.

Our front yard Saguaro with candy corn lights.

The witch with her brew of sugar. Hmmmm let's see which ones can Dad borrow/steal? Any butterfingers in there or kitkats?

Tia planned out her pumpkin carving by searching the Internet for ideas. Charlie brown and Snoopy made the top of her list.

Out in the back yard to make the mess, drink hot chocolate and have a fire in the chiminaya.

JT working on his masterpiece. A drawing of a pumpkin shot by an arrow on his pumpkin. I asked if he wanted to do a traditional pumpkin with some vampire teeth with a triangle nose and he just laughed.

Master carvers.

I dare you to snatch the seeds from my hand.

Joshua was more interested in the swing at night than the pumpkin carving.

My little buddy is growing up too fast. His is still mama's little boy. Where's Mom?
Where's Mom? I need Mom.

Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde did most of the carving and scraping of the seeds this year. I was impressed with their enthusiasm and artistic pumpkins.

Back to School 2011

2011-09-05T21:59:00.001-07:00

Bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready for another year!

They were excited to make new friends and attend a new school.

Kisses for Mom before Dad takes them to school.

We were excited to have our house back and some peace and quiet. We love the first day of school.

New girly shoes from the outlet store that were on sale.

Having a hard time with his heavy, giant backpack.

First day of school for the home schooled. Can you feel the excitement or what?!

Arizona Diamondback

2011-03-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

Tia was invited to go to Disneyland with her friend for spring break so we promised the boys that we would have some fun at home too. We decided to go to Arthur Pack park on Saturday by our house to see the new renovations. The park was not finished yet so we found a dirt road to see if we could find some coyotes or javelinas in the desert and do some exploring. We didn't see anything except some cool rocks so Jonathan and I decided to see if we could find a gold nugget or two to pay for his college or some colorful rocks for our fish tank.

Jonathan seemed to throw every rock he picked up and I am glad we didn't look too far off the road. The palo verde tree to the right of Jonathan is where we found our little friend.

This guy was about 3 to 4 feet long and perfectly camouflaged in the sand. We didn't see him until I looked at a rock about 6 feet away by the road. His rattle was black and white and he seemed a little relaxed just off the road coiled under this tree. Jonathan ran to the car and jumped in to tell Mom of the snake we found. Ruth hates snakes and of course would only look from the window and even then, it was hard to get her even next to the window to look.

We went to the Desert Museum last year and watched a snake show about rattle snakes and the guy doing the presentation said that most snake bites occur when a certain profile type messes around with them. He said they acutually keep records of the victims that come into the trauma centers from snake bites. Here is the average profile; Male with tattoos and piercings, ages 18 to 25, tank tops and drunk. Although I don't fit the profile I might end up a statistic some day because of my curious nature!

Reasoning of Jonathan

2011-03-07T15:20:00.000-08:00

Joanathan: Dad will you carry me to the bathroom to brush my teeth?

Dad: Can't you walk there yourself?

Jonathan: But my back hurts!

Dad: Why does your back hurt?

Jonathan: Because Joshua didn't walk on my back to get the cracks out! I can't have a grown up walk on me!

ABCs

2011-01-24T21:15:00.000-08:00

Joshua is turning into a good speller and likes to spell every label in the house. Every shower he has to spell the shampoo bottles three times each.

We catch him singing the ABC song all the time and he loves to count too. Ruth's hard work is paying dividends.

I think he has outgrown Jonathan's hand-me-down PJs.....

What do you think? Time for new ones? Joshua's big toe can not be contained!

Feeding the ducks at Silverbell Lake on Martin Luther King Day. Grandma Snow's birthday. We sang to Grandma on our way to the lake on the speaker phone in the car. JT asked her what she was doing and she said she was buying a bra at JC Penny. She could have lied Jeez! We wished we lived closer to family to celebrate birthdays and holidays.

Snowflake seemed to attract all the white ducks. Birds of a feather flock together.

The Hams in Hampton.

The boys playin some tunes on the ivory.

Cinderella learned how to make pillow cases at achievement days from Sara Bisel.

She was very precise in her measurements and sewing.

The finished product. Voila!!

Good Riddance 2010!

2011-01-11T22:43:00.000-08:00

We were so happy to see the New Year that we decided to get fireworks to celebrate. Littleman liked to line them up by colors. We spent New Year's Eve at the Gurvine's party and then went over to the Derricks to bring in the New Year with noise makers, Martenellis and the countdown. We lit off fireworks at both parties and still had some left over for an FHE. We had a tough year and found peace in our little family and friendships that we have made here in Tucson.

Joshua Wayne likes to play the piano for us and sing songs.

I don't know who's kid this is but he did a good job with "The Juicer".

Tangelos from our tree.

The Juicer was pretty protective of his job and would not let anyone help with his duties.

The Holidays proved too exciting for these aspiring Wii players to get off the couch.

Busted. These are some of the skills that they have learned while molding into the couch. It takes hours and hours and isn't an easy task. Our kids have perfected the art as evidenced in this picture and it also sums up all of the etiquette lessons over the years. We are very proud.

Tia playing her school project art guitar. She named it her "Sol Guitar" and had sun pictures drawn on it. She had to make it out of things she could find in the home. She has an eye for art just like her Mom.

Our baby turns three this year and is finally growing into his head. :) He is our peacemaker and full of smiles.

Jonathan made Joshua into a robot and marched him around the house.

So we leave the blueberry muffins alone for about 10 minutes and Joshua decides to only eat the tops. He helped himself to each one respectively leaving his mark as he hums mmmmm.

Happy New Year everyone and we hope this is the best year you ever had!

I Voted.

2010-11-02T19:27:00.001-07:00

"If ever time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin."

Samuel Adams

"I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth--that God Governs the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?

Benjamin Franklin

"We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation

"The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. Where, some say, is the king of America? I'll tell you, friend, He reigns above."

Thomas Paine

Goosebumps stay on you forever

2010-10-05T23:32:00.000-07:00

Tonight we were getting the kids ready for bed and talking about the next events at school. After brushing our teeth together we all jumped on the boys bed for the transition into peace. Silent evenings with sleeping children. Anyway here is a sample of our conversation.

Dad: Question directed toward Tia and Jonathan - Are you excited for the walk to school day tomorrow?

Tia: Yes!

Jonathan: Dad.............Can I wear jeans and um.......a shirt with long sleeves on it?

Dad: Yes, it might get hot later in the day.

Jonathan: I don't want to get goosebumps because they stay on you forever.

Tia: Giggle

Dad: Maybe you can wear a jacket and take it off later.

A Serious Jonathan: If you freeze and get goose bumps they stay on you like ice!

The simple things in life............

Temple Square 2010

2010-09-08T19:29:00.000-07:00

We love Temple Square. Our little family started in Salt Lake City on December 13, 1996 when Ruth and I met at a church dance in Sandy, Utah. We were later married on September 13, 1997 in the Salt Lake City temple for time and all eternity. Since then our family has grown to 5. Our three little children have been a blessing to us and we try to take them to temple square every time we visit Grandpa and Grandma Snow to share how special it is to us and our family. Sorry about getting churchy in this post but I wanted to share how we feel about our temple.

Isaiah 2:2

And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and all nations shall flow unto it.

Isaiah 2:3

And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Malachi 4:5

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:

And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children. and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

“Let us be a temple-attending people. Attend the temple as frequently as personal circumstances allow. Keep a picture of a temple in your home that your children may see it. Teach them about the purposes of the House of the Lord. Have them plan from their earliest years to go there and to remain worthy of that blessing.”
Howard W. Hunter Nov. 1994

These are the door handles on the west side of the temple that face the Tabernacle.

Holiness to the Lord. Above the handle is two hands clasped together and the years 1853 to 1893 for the 40 years it took to complete the building. The location of the temple was first marked by Brigham Young on July 28, 1847. The temple site was dedicated by Brigham Young on February 14, 1853 with the corner stone being laid on April 6, 1853. The capstone 40 years later was laid on April 6, 1892 and finally completed and dedicated by Wilford Woodruff on April 6, 1893 after the interior was finished. Many of my ancestors worked on this temple and I consider it very sacred ground. There is a peaceful feeling on the grounds and we hope that our children will recognize that spirit and learn to love the temple.

We have a lot of work to do as individuals and a family and are challenged just like everyone else with our imperfections and weaknesses but I believe that if we have hope, try our best and correct our mistakes we can be happy in this life and the life to come.

Revelations 3:20

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Munchkins Back to School

2010-08-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

Jonathan's first day of school was a good one. Tia now has a buddy to go to school with and Mom only has one left at home!

I hate shopping in the back to school frenzy at Walmart. We were able to get most of the list on the first try after battling the crowd. I have never seen so many happy Mothers in one area. It seemed like they all had a smile on their faces because their children will be back in school.

My three precious gems.

Can you feel the excitement?

Two down and one to go! LOL

Prickly Pear Lemonade Punch

2010-08-08T17:41:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago we saw some prickly pear lemonade at the desert museum and thought that would be cool to make someday. Well someday was Saturday and we decided to experiment while the pears were ripe on our side yard cactus. On Thursday I went to a free seminar at the farmers market on speedway that was sponsored by the community food bank. It was 106 degrees that day, very humid and I was surrounded by hippies and old people. I listened to a lady that volunteers at a community garden and did these free seminars to teach people how to use the desert for food. It was very interesting and I learned some good things about mesquite pods as well. Anyway this is my posting on how we made our lemonade with the pears, some tongs and a blender.

I had to get some helpers to pick some pears for me. I told them to look for really purple pears that were easy to pick. If they were hard to remove they were not ready yet. When you pull them off look for the end to be purple instead of green still. We had a combination of both. I was also taught not to pick the ones with bird poop on them. :)

This is my Indiana Jones helper that was very careful not to get any pricklies (glochids) on him. He was proud of his first choice. I made sure I taught them about where the stickers are and the pains of getting them stuck in your hands. They also told us to not pick them during a windy day because the spines can get airborne and get all over.

Tia leaned a little too far to get the big one and got it in the shorts. I told them to put on Levis but they didn't want to listen to Dad so I let them listen to the pricklys. These told Tia that they can penetrate clothes easily.

We found these great tongs at the dollar store to grab and hold them. Each of those little white spots had about 50 little reddish spines around them to torment us. I know what you are thinking right about now. How do you make sure those stickers don't end up in your drink? It's a trade secret and I will show you below.

We separated out the good pears from the bird stained ones and gave the bird pears to our tortoise. He didn't seem to mind. He leaves his treasures all over our lawn anyway and never seems to pick them up.

This is why we used tongs instead of gloves. The glochids seem to get everywhere in your gloves no matter what kind I have used in the past dealing with these little spines.

There are various ways to get the juice out but we chose to use a blender. That's our trade secret. Throw them all in and blend. At the farmers market they said that you can burn them off, boil them, peel them or freeze them and let the juice leak out when they thaw. I decided to go with the recommended way and use a blender. I was skeptical that there would be leftover spines but we seemed to take care of them.

Since it was our first time I mad sure I blended them thoroughly while the helpers looked on in anticipation. I think they just liked to see the destruction in the blender.

Tia added more pears as we blended them into a pulp.

We then strained the pulp into a container and repeated the process two times to make sure we got all the seeds and left over spines.

This is the bright pink leftover juice. I remembered it from the desert museum and how vibrant it was. I know these pictures do not do it justice but you can get an idea of how different it is.

We used cheesecloth as our final step to make sure we didn't have any hitchhikers.

We then mixed a lemonade packet and added about a 1/2 cup of prickly pear juice and that was it for our desert drink made from cactus in our yard.

We had to break out our Rocky Point glasses for the special occasion to enjoy the full effect.

We are going to make Popsicles too so let us know when you are tired of melting in theTucson heat and we will share. Cheers!!

Imperial Beach

2010-04-14T22:39:00.000-07:00

San Diego in the winter time was still nice. This is The Tin Fish Restaurant at the end of the Imperial Beach Pier where we were told is a good place to eat. We had the opportunity to stay at our friend's family condo on seacoast drive for free! It is located south of downtown San Diego near the Mexican border. We have never been south of the city except for going in to Mexico and it was a pretty good hideaway. It had the small beach town feel and yet only about 15 minutes from downtown.

The Tin Fish had a fun menu with all kinds of seafood. We went there to get fish and chips. Since the weather was a little cold and rainy we decided to stay inside while we ate.

Fish and chips, coleslaw and sprite. MMMMMM.

This was the third day of our trip right after the Tsunami warning because of the Haiti earthquake the night before. We decided to look for Shells on the beach and die together as a family. Since we were the only brilliant family on the beach we raked in the shells. There were a few other people out there but none braver than Tia and Jonathan!

Tia and Jonathan just before the Tsunami hit.

This was our balcony view of the pier. Awesome, amazing, beautiful and relaxing. Our dream is to own a cabin and a beach house. I think we will start with this one.

There was a nice table and high chairs to sit in and soak up the sun. The water came up to the rocks sometimes at high tide and was perfect when the tide went out. The kiddos had fun running through the water, finding shells and throwing rocks. Mom had a good view point to watch when boo boo got tired.

The three Amigos.

The view to the south was also nice. We could see some islands off the coast of Mexico and we could see the city of Tijuana too on the mountain side.

Inside the condo we enjoyed the fireplace and only turned on the TV to watch the original star wars movie. The blue shag carpet was definitely groovy.

It was fully furnished and equipped with WiFi and a printer. It worked out nice so I could still do some work while we enjoyed So Cal.

This was the view from the kitchen table during breakfast. It was very nice to watch the waves while having a fire and eating Captain Crunch. We had hot chocolate and popcorn at night.

Tia and Jonathan picking up Sand Dollars by the pier at low tide. The storms washed up a bunch of shells and we counted our sand dollars when we got home and had 162 of them! We bleached them and saved the good ones to make some art pieces.

The treasure seekers.

Dude, I see another one!

Joshua was not interested in the shells but loved to chase every bird that landed near us.

He almost got this slow one.

The Arizona tourists.

Tia kept stealing the camera from us to take some pictures of the locals. Here is a couple shots of her new friends.

She thought this guy might of been the pelican from the movie Nemo.

Jedi Knights practicing by the estuary known as the Tijuana Sloughs. The Tijuana River dumps into the ocean a few miles to the south and also fills this area for many species of birds to live in.

Tia making her move. The young padowan is unfazed by her advances.

Before the storm looking to the east from the elevator area. There was also a military base that is used for landing helicopters. We stopped and watched some for a while for JT to get his fill.

Morning after the rains. The Estuary filled up and almost spilled over into the road.

The waves picked up as well but the water was contaminated by the storm run off from Mexico.

The waves came over the top and washed down the street leaving rocks, seaweed and sand all over the road.

This is where it broke thought the break water. I guess back in the day it probably was a free flowing area of salt and fresh water mixing in the estuary.

The waves were pumping with some offshore winds to make it very appealing. It was Sunday. Good thing the water was dirty or I might of been out in those! I brought all the goods and didn't get in the water once. Maybe next time. Who's coming with us?!!

Rodeo Days Weekend @ Disneyland

2010-03-15T18:13:00.000-07:00

Disneyland 2010 was a hit. We planned well in advance to allow Jonathan a chance to experience Disneyland before his 5th birthday in April. We talked about getting away during the Rodeo Days to escape the crowds that we experienced there in the summertime. We had a friend from college offer us their condo in San Diego for free so we decided that now was the time. Mickey and Mini welcomed the Rodeo Days Hampton Family on Main Street with opened arms and permanent happy smiles.

The happiest place on earth did not disappoint with the whole family enjoying every minute. We decided to map out our plan of attack to maximize our time on the popular rides first and then enjoy the other attractions later. We hit the Indiana Jones ride first after grabbing some fast passes, then we hit the Pirates of the Caribbean, Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, The Cars, It's a Small World, Dumbo, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise and Peter Pan.

I tried to beat Mini off of me but she would not let go and Tia was a little nervous around the famous Mickey Mouse.

Joshua and Dad let Tia, Mom and Jonathan go first on Thunder Mountain while we waited where we could see them come out of the earthquake zone. We heard screams and could see their hands up in the air. When they were done we listened to all of their stories of what they saw and experienced then it was time for Jonathan, Tia and Dad to do it all over again since the lines were short. We grabbed fast passes after we left for later!

It's a small world was a nice calm ride and proved to be a favorite of Joshua's. The clock struck 11:45 while we were in line and all the characters came out and danced around. The ride was still the same since I was a kid with a few extra characters from some of the movies. Kind of like captain Jack Sparrow all over the place in the pirates of the Caribbean. I liked it the old way. Classic. Jonathan was a little freaked out by the "skelekin" that talked before the waterfall. He seemed to squeeze a little extra close during the second waterfall.

Celebrate! A Street Party. We decided to wait for the parade on Main Street and get a good spot. My two buddies made sure they did not lose each other. I hope they will have some memories to see how they loved each other when they were small. While we waited for the parade we browsed through the stores looking for treasures. Tia spotted some ear rings and was counting her money to see if she had enough. Jonathan liked the swords and Dad didn't like any of the prices. Ouch!

We met the St. Peter Family and watched the parade together. Jonathan and Kameha were picked to join the party and went out and danced in the parade while we all cheered from the sidelines. We saw the Greenwell's there also.

We had lunch in the car and let the little ones take a short nap. We found Mini by the fire station striking a pose in her giant shoes.

Tia and Jonathan were in the Peter Pan ship ahead of Mom, Dad and Joshua and we didn't think the picture would work but it did. A lost boy and Wendie were flying high above London. We waited about 30 minutes for this ride that lasted about 5 minutes.

Ruth took the little ones on Dumbo's train ride and the Merry go round while Tia and Dad hit Thunder Mountain with fast passes again. Tia kept her arms up from the moment we sat down to the end where they lifted the bar and kicked us out. She and Dad screamed during most of the scary parts! Crazy girl liked the rush and is now a junkie. Joshua cried when Ruth took him off his horsey.

Waiting in line for Dumbo. Jonathan and Tia rode in one Dumbo and Joshua and Dad rode in the other Dumbo. Mom took pictures of the Dumbos.

3 Dumbos in a Dumbo.

The sword in the stone proved to be too much for the three of them. No magical powers today.

They found other swords to conquer the galaxy. Tia and I jumped on Space Mountain with our fast passes again after we rode the Buzz light year ride. The boys had fun shooting the targets with the guns. The fireworks were cancelled due to the winds so the kids decided to spend their remaing dollars on light sabers that glowed in the dark. Tia bought some pink ear rings that she spotted earlier in the day and couldn't stop talking about them all day. We told them to wait until the end of the night so they didn't have to carry them around.

Tickets to Disneyland $140.

Gas to drive to California and back $125.

A beautiful smile at the end of a good memory.....Priceless.

Finger Rock

2010-02-06T19:00:00.000-08:00

Saturday January 23, 2010 5.10 miles round trip.

The Trail starts at the end of Alvernon Way in a parking lot. I wanted to go to Romero Pools but when I called the Catalina State Park they were closed because the water was too high in the CDO wash and you couldn't get to the trail head. I heard it is a great hike after the rains. Joel Gurvine suggested we try Finger Rock so we met at the Basha's parking lot with the Dillards and off we went.
When we started out at the trail head there was a 40% chance of rain and it was snowing still in the mountains so we made sure we had our rain jackets. We were hoping to get up to the snow so we could have a snowball fight.

I carried JT most of the way up the steep part and about 1/2 of the way down. He was a trooper and Tia did awesome too without a complaint. At one point coming back down the trail Jonathan said, "my hands are cold, I don't want to be here." After that I put him on my shoulders and he put his hands down my neck and back to get warm and was much happier. This is where we crossed the wash to the steep part of the trail.

This was an interesting Saguaro shape that caught my eye. It made a good frame of Finger rock.

The views of the snow were amazing going up and the views of the valley were incredible coming back down. The canyon was very steep on both sides and we climbed the east canyon wall after we crossed the wash.

Mike and Trey Dillard.

Trey Dillard and Jeremy Gurvine.

We shed our jackets as we climbed the mountain. JT and I were the caboose most of the way.

We stopped a few times to yell and listen for our echos. It was pretty clear and loud.

We stopped at a good viewpoint of finger rock about 2.55 miles up. Here is a link that describes where we stopped to eat our snacks. http://www.localhikes.com/hikes/fingerrock_8520.asp Can you tell my two little hiking buddies were tired?

Joel, Mike and Joel's friend couldn't leave their technology in the car. I prefer not to think about the world below when I am in God's Country! Wouldn't you rather look at the views?

Tia was the only girl on the hike and kept up with the boys.

Someone thought the way down was going to be easy and fun. About the fourth scary rock pile next to the drop off edges he seemed to wait for his Dad. After about 7 or 8 of those he ended up on my shoulders the rest of the way. My lower back, neck and knees were very sore the next day to say the least. Jt is 4 years old and weighs about 40 pounds. It felt like I was back packing with a moving pack on my back.

The side walls of the trail had some interesting wild life on it.

Tia and mini me Jonathan. It looks like his legs are chopped off in this shot.

We could see kit peak and beyond. Perfect day for hiking.

Leaning against a giant rock in the trail.

Looking back behind the big rock towards finger rock.

Wild Burro Canyon

2010-01-07T22:02:00.000-08:00

Saturday January 2nd we decided to take a hike with the kids in the Tortolita Mountains near our home. The forecast called for 70 degrees and plenty of sunshine so we called the Hooblers and the Derricks to see if they wanted to join us. We left about 9:45 AM to pick up the Derricks and carpool with the Hooblers. We made it to the trail about 10:30 after stopping for gas and a bathroom break. The kids found some perfect walking sticks their size that were ribs from a Saguaro cactus. Tortolita means little white dove in spanish.

The trail started at the Ritz Carlton that just opened last month. We chose the family friendly purple Wild Burro trail that went up the wash into the canyon just passed the resort. The trail is marked very well and was perfect for the younger kids. We came back down on the blue on the left called the Lower Javelina Trail that had more of a climb and view.

A Petroglyph of a Deer and Cactus we discovered near a large Saguaro cactus.

We took turns carrying Joshua the whole way. We estimated that we hiked between 3 and four miles round trip.

The Petroglyph is in the shadow of this picture.

Joshua,Tia, Abby, Anna, Jonathan and Collin.

Ruth looking up the canyon after we left the Wild Burro Trail and heading back down on the Lower Javelina Trail after a short climb.

There were many cactus that seemed to grow right out of the rock. Ritz Carlton in the background looking West.

We also discovered this large, flat rock that was used to grind various things. We couldn't find the grinding stone but did see some pottery pieces down below near the end of the trail.

Jonathan and Anna had fun throwing rocks and were real troopers. We carried Anna on our shoulders the last little while because those little legs take about twice as many steps to travel the same distance. It was fun to watch them hike and discover things along the way. Each one of them brought a treasure bag that they filled with rocks. Some of them had too many treasures and we had to leave some "gold" behind.

We put Dad's hat on Joshua because we forgot the sunscreen.

Teddy Bear Cholla. Nasty hidden barbs on the spines. Use a stick to get them off your shoes and clothes.

No falls, skinned knees, stickers, crying or complaints. Wow. Just sore muscles the next day.

The cactus forest was amazing.

Wildlife Museum and Halloween

2009-12-29T22:18:00.000-08:00

Grandma, here are some more pictures! We went on a hike to see some petroglyphs and caves in Picture Rocks. We walked down a large wash for about 15 minutes because of various discoveries along the way and then climbed the mountain trail to a cave.

Tia is standing at the entrance to the cave and I am standing by a natural window. Jonathan is hiding inside the cave in the window.

Tia the explorer and butterfly whisperer.

Outside the entrance to the International Wildlife Museum on speedway.

There were many different species of butterflies from all over the world.

RRRROOAAARRRRRRR!!! The two tigers make their presence known.

The two tigers magically turned into three ferrets. Three Lazy ferrets. The tunnel came out on the other side and they crawled through it about 4 times.

The stinky, hairy javelina. Striking resemblance don't you think?

The giant crocodile got little Joshua before he could get away. His left leg was snatched in the first bite just below the knee. It was like it all happened in slow motion as we watched helplessly on the banks of the carpet.

We adopted a desert tortoise in October from the desert museum. We had a desert museum guy come over and approve our yard and burrow that we made. He was a doctor and volunteered at the desert museum to help place the tortoises. After approval, we made an appointment with the director to pick up our latest child and we were informed on the phone that we were having a boy.

The kids decided that they wanted to name him. Tia picked Rocky from our list and Jonathan picked Tank. His name became Rocky Tank. Rocky Tank kept trying to escape on the ride home and it made JT a little nervous.

Joshua didn't seem to have a problem with the moving rock in the backyard and tried to lean on him with all of his weight to hitch a ride. We had to teach him that it was not a toy and that he needed to wash his hands after touching him. The desert museum director told us that they sometimes walk through their own business and get dirty.

We made his home according to the specifications online and he didn't seem to like it very much. Blocks around the perimeter with a board on top covered in dirt.

Halloween time again. We decided to take Soccer girl, Army man and Superman over to the YMCA trunk or treat.

Inside they had a bean bag toss, basketball hoop shoot, and a raffle to win some bedrox bowling coupons.

Outside they had a fire truck, police cars, ambulances, jumping castles, baseball throw, a climbing wall and a big slide. They also had various business with booths and trunks pen with candy. It was very crowded but fun.

Saturday October 31st was the St. Peter's party so we decided to take Cowgirl, Indiana Jones and Charlie Brown to see a few neighbors before we left. The weather was perfect with a full moon that night.

Indiana wanted to go to the ladies house that had the huge candy bars. He escaped with the treasure before the natives chased him down through the desert. He barely escaped with his life.

Alex, Madelynn, Kameha, Stacey, Jonathan, Tia, Tortolita guy, Cassie, Joshua, McKayla and Jacob.

Counting the treasures. Tia had127 pieces of pure sugar.

We had to carve our pumpkins on Monday after Halloween. Joshua had some pumpkin guts stuck on his toes and couldn't get them off.

Hot chocolate celebration of Tia's first pumpkin that she carved on her own. The cat on the left was Tias and the happy one on the right is Jonathans.

Tia had a hard time with the whiskers but overall did an excellent job. The guts were a little slippery as well.

Can you find the pumpkin head?

Rugrats showing some brotherly love.

Catching Up

2009-12-28T21:16:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I have been a horrible blogger this year. Ruth made me a book out of my 2008 blog and it came out so nice that I decided to do some catching up on 2009. It turned into a nice picture journal to document the year. This is JT and Tia at Breakers water park for their summer reading program reward. 8-8. They had to read for 30 minutes every day for the summer and they got a free pass to the water park.

The waves were huge.

We rented these tubes for the day and they were fun. JT went down the red enclosed tube slide behind him this year all by himself. His eyes were big and round when he came out the bottom into the light. He was all smiles the rest of the day. Tia is still a pro from last year.

Joshua's 1st birthday. 8-14. Cupcakes and frosting in the nose. It is our tradition to put the cake in front of them and let them get creative. This year did not disappoint.

Joshua's new popper machine. He had just as much fun with the balloons.

One sword for little man and one sword for big man to keep the peace among brothers before the war broke out.

The two brothers sleeping together hanging off the bed. 8-22.

9-10 was get your shots day. Tough guy through the first two needles and the crying through the last two. Sore arms the next day.

Iron man JT showing his scars.

Tia's first game. 9-11. She improved a lot this year and had a great coach named Tim Pedersen that helped her learn the game.

Tia showing her speed and hair whip.

9-13. 12 years of marital bliss, 3 kids, 2 states and one goal. Happiness.

9-16. I took an elbow to the eye on a rebound playing basketball. Split it wide open. Kirk Bowden was playing with us and took a look at it and said, "Well you can go to the emergency room and pay a lot of money or you can super glue it together. I chose the glue. Kirk is in his medical residency here in Tucson so I trusted his judgement. He followed me to the Walgreens while I drove with one hand on the wheel and one on my eye to keep the bleeding in check. He fixed me up in no time.

Adrianne!! I had a nice shiner and had to tell the story about 30 times to explain how I got my big black eye.

If anyone ever needs to glue an eye back together give us a call. This new skin has antiseptic in it which helped heal it without infection. I had to reapply it periodically and I did glue my eyebrow to my eyelid one night and had to fix it quickly.

9-18. JT's 1st day at soccer practice. Tia's old shin guards and shoes from the Maces.

New uniform and name tag.

The parents helped with the drills and mini games. Joshua wanted to score too.

Brock Driggs, Abby Derrick, Jonathan Hampton, Ashlee Herring and Lincoln Rasmussen. Amy Greenwell was also part of the team.

9-19. Reading time before bed turned into a fashion statement. Thomas the train and shades. Tia has her journal that she is pretty good at keeping her private thoughts in.

Mom reading to little man with his shades.

Mission accomplished! Sleep. Quiet house full of sleeping children.

10-2. Kiddos watching cartoons with Joshua showing his abs or lack thereof and his tongue out.

Tia's bird catching contraption. Pieces of bread tied to the cage by string with a door opening on the top. Result....dried up bread and a good laugh. I think Joshua ate more bait than any birds.

10-4. Wagon ride at Sunset.

The driver and tour guide.

The passengers.

Pit stop by the monkey bars. Only one monkey got out to play.

10-5. I had our Mahoney Group Producer trip to Prescott this year and I brought back some Sheriff badges for the boys. Our team won the scavenger hunt with the help from the Jarmins. $500 prize money. The first clue was in the bottom of the pool and I had to jump in with all my clothes on. It was worth it.

10-6. The Gurvines gave us their Thomas the Train set that the kids loved.

Ruth chatting with her family via Skype. Online phone system for free. It has been nice to have and we were able to see and talk to her father with our kids a few days before his passing.

Michael 10-8, Andrew 10-6 and Aunt Lois' birthdays 10-11.

Ruth made this poster for the Young Women's program.

Pioneer Days

2009-08-15T22:09:00.000-07:00

Rainbow Campground @ Big Lake in the White Mountains.

Clothier Family.

Pyro boy = Burned Hair

We caught more crawdads than fish.

Shumway School House. One room school house built in 1900.

Snowflake Temple

Rodeo Grounds in Taylor where we watched the fireworks and rodeo.

Cotton Candy. MMMM.

Pioneer Parade in Snowflake.

Fruits of her Labor

2009-08-10T22:24:00.001-07:00

Tia's new venture this summer was a lemonade stand. She brewed some home-made limeade and lemonade complimented with Otter Pops and Airheads. Tia and her trusted helper Jonathan set up shop on July 3rd and 4th.

Her famous recipe that she no longer needs to follow. Dumb Dad.

We picked a spot behind our wall on the busy corner of Bald Eagle for maximum exposure. American flag, duct tape and a play cash register from about 5 years ago that worked real well. Oh and don't forget the tip jar for excellent service.

It rained a little but that didn't stop the entrepreneur's spirit. The show must go on!

Jonathan kept spending his money on Airheads.

The Clothiers van full of people helped to boost sales. They were very happy after another satisfied customer.

After Tia took out her tithing and paid back her loan for cups, sugar, ice, candy and lemonade packets she was able to enjoy her profits.

The Fruits of her Labors! Cash!

Bee Killer

2009-06-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

After arriving home from swim lessons Jonathan asked why there was trash stuck in the tree while sitting in the back of the car. Ruth told him there isn't any trash up there. Jonathan asked why the trash was not blowing away because it was a windy day. Ruth looked up in the palm tree when they got out of the car she noticed it was a blob of bees under a palm leaf. She asked the kids to be careful and called me at work. I in turn called a friend in the pest control business to ask some advice.

He told me that you need to cover yourself head to toe because the bees will attack the face first. He said that it is best to wait until dark to take care of them because they are dormant and will cause less trouble. So I proceeded to cowboy up and find all of my old ski gear from the college days. I waited until 11:30 PM to attack the hive and protect my children from the killer swarm.

I thought about duct taping my pant legs and wrists but I decided to live dangerously.

Once I was properly outfitted with the help of Ruth I proceeded to mix the potion while sweating like crazy. Dish soap and water. I know, that's what I thought. It can't bee that easy. So I dug in the garage for my sprayer and squirted in about half a bottle of dish soap from a small bottle. I added it after I filled the sprayer with water. Ready to rock and roll.

The sprayer was pretty heavy with all of the water so I made sure I had the sprayer working before I climbed the ladder of no return.

Luckily the bees were sleeping. Ruth shined the high beams from the car so I could see and I got in position to climb the ladder. My friend told me that after you give them a good soaking they will start falling off in about 10 minutes. As I climbed the ladder I was expecting a rush of bees so I prepared to spray them even if they started attacking until I was stung. I even had a plan where I was going to jump after the counter attack.

When I started to spray them nothing happened and they hardly even moved. I proceeded to soak them real good just to make sure the bees on the inside sampled my potion too.

Bee Bubble Bath.

The morning after I found a bunch of dead ones just below the palm tree and about fifty crawling around on the ground and in the street that couldn't fly. Mission accomplished.

Mt. Graham High Adventure

2009-06-11T21:43:00.000-07:00

This awesome trip started off with borrowing a pack from Joel Gurvine and smashing as much comforts in it that I could possibly carry without killing myself. Most of my camping gear is up at Grandma's house in Utah so I had to scramble to put together my gear. My pack weighed in at 45 pounds on our home scale before we packed our food and supplies up on the mountain. They always seem light until you get about 2 miles into your hike and realize you might have brought too much stuff. When we got up on top of the mountain it was pretty cold and it started to briefly snow while we hiked that was fun to see. Most of the boys were excited to see the snow. It was good to be immersed in nature and behold the majesty of our Maker. The stars were amazing at night and it seemed we were a little closer to Heaven in the mountains.

There were many little pools of water that were very inviting as the day moved on and warmed up. I wanted to fish every one of them but I had to be a responsible adult and stay up with our group. :(

The mountain was very steep and beautiful. This was below a large waterfall that we could see from the trail but did not have time to hike down to. The pines trees smelled great and I always love to hear the wind blow through the pines. There were a lot of trees that fell across the trail that made it challenging to get through with a large pack.

We stopped a few times to rest and hiked about 4 miles the first day. Sam Wardell Thomas Laprevote and Aaron Adams on top of the world. That is the town of Pima in the background where Peter and Ruth McBride's families are from.

This was our Zion's Camp hiking group. 6 scouts and three leaders. We took a break during our Orienteering merit badge to put on our colors. Royce Sharp was the chief warrior.

Apache trout biting on my leftover fly from our Lee's Ferry trip. I caught about 20 fish overall and they all looked like this guy. White fins and a rainbow body.

I caught about 5 fish out of these two perfect holes and noticed Jesse Gurvine down stream. I asked Joel if he Jesse wanted to come over and give it a try. Jesse needed to catch some fish for his fishing merit badge. He had to catch two fish, let one go and eat one back at camp. We were able to hook two more fish out of this hole for Jesse.

This was our Wednesday and Thursday night campsite. I found a grassy area that made the ground a little softer but I still seemed to find the rocks about 2 in the morning under my ribs. We had a fireside every night that seemed to help balance out the trip and bring a spirit of unity to the camp. We all had MRE meals from the military that are light weight and perfect for camping. Everybody seemed to trade something in there packets. My favorite MRE was the tortellini with the red hots and lemonade drink mix.

This was the home at the bottom of the trail where we stayed Friday night and built some launchers to launch some stuff. We were all pretty tired at this point and happy to be off the trail. We hiked about 10 to 12 miles total.

The scouts using their lashing and knot tying skills they learned on the mountain to build some launchers.

We had a service project Saturday morning for the Fish and Game and afterwards the official took a few of us to some ancient Indian ruins. These are some grinding stones used by them. It was interesting to hear how they lived and the environment surrounding their site. There were numerous large holes dug around the site with a leftover screen to sift through the ruins. It reminded me of a Indiana Jones movie set.

Friday night dinner. Meatball sandwich and cheetos.

A view back at the mountain we conquered. Can you hear the harmonica playing and coyote howling?

Dutch oven apple cobbler and vanilla ice cream for dessert. Made by Jay Hoobler.

Tia's homemade sign on the front door. I missed my family and wished my sons were already scouts. Shower, shave, toilet, Ruth's excellent cookin and a soft bed. Home sweet home.

Victory

2009-06-08T22:45:00.000-07:00

The Countryside Fab 7 won the 1st Annual Tucson Quad-Stake Basketball Tournament. We played the Valencia Ward from the West Stake in the finals and came away with the victory. We played well as a team and had great family support.

Varsity Scout backpacking trip to Mt. Graham near Safford Arizona. We had Thomas, Aaron, Sam, Scott, Ty, Kevin, Mitchel and Royce in our goup. We had three groups of hikers with 24 people total.

Aaron, Jacob, Sam, Royce, Thomas, Steven, Tyler, Ty, Kevin, Aaron, Mitchel, Tanner, Brentyn, Jay, Jacob, Joel, Jesse, Trent,Peter, Zach, Dan, Mitchel, Scott and Jake taking the picture.

Fathers and Sons - Parker Canyon Lake

2009-05-12T22:40:00.000-07:00

Dad and little buddy in the tent telling stories about fishing.

Fish on!

Sponge bob didn't cut the mustard this year. He had to use Dad's fishin pole like a big boy.

His honker.

Blue gill fat boy.

Bisels shootin water bottles with the air soft gun.

Herrings shootin the rifle.

The gun show.

Dad may I shoot the gun?

Yes but only a few. Fire, guns, dirt, fishin and campin.

Go shoot the marshmallows up close.

Do you think he wanted to go home or stay and play?

Daddy Daughter Campout

2009-04-18T20:54:00.001-07:00

This was our first Daddy Daughter camp out and it was a memorable one. Click on the picture if you want to see their crazy faces. It all started a week early with the weather report forecasting 54 degrees on Saturday with rain, and snow down to 5500 feet with a high wind advisory. Ummm yeah. Parker Canyon is about 5400 feet. Can't get any better than that. So I tried to talk Tia out of going but I did not have any luck. We ended up carpooling with the Clothiers. We left about 3 PM and stopped at Jack in the box for some chicken strips. We arrived at Parker Canyon Lake about 5:30 PM. It was very windy and blue skies. The Bisels, Wilsons and Johnsons were there and warned us to bolt our tents down. We did. The girls had a great time talking in the tent then getting kicked out and going into the car and getting kicked out and going into someone else's tent to have their girl time. They also formed a secret club down by the lake and the Dad's were not allowed in the sacred zone. We cooked hot dogs over the open fire and then made some smores. The full moon rose up in the East and the clouds started to roll in. Good thing we secured our tent because about 3 in the morning it got crazy. The rain started to hit the tent about 1 AM with the nasty winds shaking the tent all night. I woke up about 3 AM with the tent shaking and I thought it might blow over so I grabbed the side walls and held on tight. Tia woke up with a scared look on her face and we rode out the micro burst. I knew it had to do damage somewhere so I opened up my tent to look out and saw Ben Clothier trying to fix something on his tent. I got dressed and went over to his tent to see if everything was ok. He said the wind broke his tent pole and ripped his tent. He said it should be ok if the rain stops. It did. For a little while. I went back to sleep and the rain came back and then I heard a voice. Ty your car is locked where's your keys? I looked out the of the tent and Ben was freezing with no shoes on and wet. I told him to hop in our tent and ride it out so he ran back in his bare feet to get his three daughters and their stuff. It looked like Vietnam with him running in the rain carrying his daughters while the heavy rain blew sideways. What an awesome Dad.
We made it through the night and tried some fishing in the morning and called it good. We were home by 12.

Jonathan's 4th Birthday.

2009-04-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

Jonathan turned 4 on Wednesday. He was born on April fool's day and has been our little entertainer ever since. He was excited all week for his birthday to come and had a full day of fun. Mom made his cake that was shaped like a lifesaver. I ate most of it. ;)

After we sang Happy Birthday the lifesavers went first after the candles were blown out. I think he already had two in his mouth at this point.

That was probably #4.

I thinks JT's favorite presents were his storm trooper and army men.

He quickly made him into a multi talented storm trooper to fight his army men.

He separates the green guys from the brown guys and likes to take them everywhere he goes. He gave one of his precious army men to brother Prodromides in the hospital.

We had fun at the park, played soccer and rode bikes.

Joshua likes to be outside where the action is. He likes to stay on the sleeping bag and stay off the grass.

Our little white boy is now about 8 months old and is growing into his noggin. He is trying to stand more now and is more vocal about his dinner not arriving fast enough. He likes his graham crackers, warm water baths and has been a pleasant baby for us. He likes to smile and eat everything he can find on the floor.

He has blond hair and I think he looks like his Grandpa McGrevy.

Orange Blossom Special

2009-03-30T22:37:00.000-07:00

Our Orange blossoms are filling the air in our backyard again. Two weeks ago we had our pink jasmin blossoming in the front yard and now our orange tree is sending in sweat smells through our windows. Our lemon and lime trees are blossomming as well.

Before the popcorn pops.

Mini Tangelo orange forming.

The butterflys are starting to come around too and lay their eggs on the new leaves. Time for Tia to bring out her nets and catch some to show her friends.

The first cactus bloom.

The Quail loves these seeds after they dry out and fall.

2009 Matchplay

2009-03-14T22:56:00.001-07:00

Monday Practice Round

Watching Mike Weir chip.

Walter Hagen Tent.

13th Green with room to run.

Camilo Villegas from Columbia.

Watching Trevor Immelman hit the long irons. Picture by Joel Gurvine.

Friday Summary - I picked up some leftover tickets from Jay Hoobler for Friday the 27th of February and tried to give them away to clients to use. No one was available to go so I called Ruth about 12:30 PM to see if Jonathan wanted to go with his Dad. I went earlier in the week with some clients and later with a friend of mine in town from Utah and Jonathan cried when he could not go with me. So I called Ruth when I got a chance on her cell and he was at the park with Blaine McGill. He said yes so I had Mom get him set up with a hat and his basketball shoes and a bottle of water. He was ready when I got home and we quickly hurried to drive up to Tangerine and the freeway to park the car. We caught the bus that takes you to the main entrance at the Ritz Carlton Golf Course in Dove Mountain. The weather was perfect. We got their so late that some of the matches were already finished. We checked the board and found out that Phil was 2 down on the 13th so we hurried to try and catch him on the 15th green. As we walked up the 17th fairway we could see him teeing off on the 14th tee box with Stuart Cink. I knew if we skipped, ran in the grass, dodged cactus and threw enough rocks we could get to the 15th green in time to see them tee off. The 15th hole is a 343 yard par 4 and most of the big hitters can drive the green. We parked on the right side of the green and saw Phil hit his ball in the desert. Anyway, we followed the match to the 18th green with Jonathan on his Dad's shoulders most of the way back. We sat behind the green where the players come off the green and have interviews. I thought we might have a good chance at an autograph from Phil if we left right after they putted. Phil Mickelson lost but was kind enough to stay and sign autographs after. I knew he wouldn't stay for long so I got into the corner of the crowd where he had an interview with the Golf Channel and KGUN 9. When Phil started signing autographs I could tell he wouldn't sign very many so I put Jonathan on my shoulders again and had him hold his hat out over the rail up high. Just when I thought Phil was done signing he looked up at Jonathan and smiled. He came over and grabbed his hat and signed it. I had Jonathan say "Thanks Phil" and he smiled again at Jonathan. What a good guy to single out my little man and give him and his Dad a great memory. I took Tia and Jonathan earlier on Monday during the practice round and Tia had her pink visor signed by Camilo Villegas and a ball by Anthony Kim. We enjoyed the Walter Hagen Club tent on Monday courtesy of Janthan DeBake from the Mahoney Group.

This picture was taken during the Tuesday practice round when you could take a camera on the golf course. We happened to follow Phil that day because Tiger played early in the morning on Tuesday. Steve Low, Aaron Laduke and I went up there in the afternoon after I picked up Steve from the airport. All three of us were in the MTC together and served our missions in Holland. Dustin Johnson, Hunter Mahan were playing with Phil on Tuesday.

Jonathan looking at his ticket from Friday to see who's picture is on it.

Jonathan showing Mom who Tiger Woods is. He would point out Tiger every time he saw a picture of him at the tournament or on the golf channel. "Dad that's the guy on TV". We also went to In N Out Burger on Saturday while I was doing pavers at the Shiflet's house and happened to sit next to Justin Leonard. He lost to Ross Fisher I believe in the quarter finals. I had no idea that professional golfers liked In N Out burger. :) We took a picture of him on the camera phone and on the way out he waved to Jonathan and Tia.

JTs Old Navy baseball hat signed by Phil Mickelson.

I am thinking of putting this stuff in a shadow box for little buddy so he can say he was there and watched some of the best golfers in the world play at Dove Mountain.

Tia's 1st Earrings on her 10th Birthday!

2009-02-15T17:39:00.000-08:00

Tia picking out her earrings from the list at Claire's in the Foothills mall. JT looking at the toy store going out of business across the way.

She picked the Crystal sapphire daisy and they just sold the last pair. She "settled" with the pink Crystal rose instead.

Just before Tia got in the hot seat a little girl about 4 years old got her ears pierced. She cried. Tia seemed to get a little nervous after that. A concerned Jonathan looks on.

Getting ready for the big shocker. Supportive Jonathan by her side and Ruth picking out her next pair.

The Claire's technician lined up her ears and marked them with a pen.

Ruth checking her work and calming some nerves. Joshua seems riveted and caught up in the emotion of the moment. Tia elected to have two technicians pierce her ears at the same time so it would be faster. They each lined up on one ear and counted to three and BAM!

Before with no holes in her pretty little ears.

Happy Birthday girl with her new bling bling. Dad is sad that his little princess is growing up too fast. I tried to talk her out of it until she was 21 but it didn't work.

Tia made me this nice sign when I got home from my three week work trip. Wellcome home Dad.

Mischievous Ruth giving Joshua a new dew. I think it's too black and unmanageable. What do you think Grandma?

He looks like Shemp from the three stooges.

This last Thursday we took Tia to Texas Roadhouse for her birthday dinner with our coupons of course. We had fun eating the peanuts and throwing them on the ground. After we ordered our food I started to point out some of the fun things on the wall. After I was done Jonathan started to find some interesting things he saw.

It went like this:

JT - Dad there is a snake on the wall! It was a rattlesnake skin that was mounted.

Dad - yeah buddy that is a big one.

JT - Dad there is a car on the roof!

Dad - That is a cool race car, I wonder how they got it up there.

I looked down to eat some salad.

JT - Dad there's a Bonehead on the wall!

Dad - What?

JT - There's a Bonehead on the wall over there!

I began to giggle and looked in the direction where he was pointing expecting to see a real bonehead.

Dad - Wow Jonathan that is a great description of that cow skull with horns.

JT - Yeah that's a cool bonehead.

California Producer School

2009-01-31T18:48:00.000-08:00

Porpoises came by today (top left) heading south in Newport Beach. The waves were small but the water was clear. That is Catalina Island in the background.

I must of seen about 15 different porpoises in about 3 different groups. There is one in the middle of this picture. It was 81 degrees and perfect weather today. Waater was about 56 degrees.

Three Starfish for my three amigos.

BAM!

I had the good fortune of seeing a metal tool fly off a trailer and hit my windshield in Phoenix AZ on my way to school. $500 deductible. $200 dollar fix.

We are staying in the Doubletree hotel in Anaheim and were over run by the Affliction promotion. Fedor vs Arlovski. Most of the fighters were in the lobby every night and so we kept seeing these guys with camera crews and groupies around. After the fight I decided to take a picture with the two Russian fighters that I shared a long elevator ride and became a groupie. This is mini Fedor below. He lost. Big shiner on his eye.

This dude below is the real deal and champion. Fedor. I think I can take him. I didn't know much about these guys so I googled them and found out that the promoter of the fight is Tom Atencio. I used to be on the same soccer team as Tom when we were in the 8th grade.

This is Fedor Monday morning when he was leaving the hotel. He was pretty cool in the lobby so I asked if I could take a picture with him also. He smiled and put his arm around me like we were friends. I am a groupie! I also shared another elevator with Arlovski the night before the fight and asked him: "Are you fighting tomorrow night?" Arlovski - "grunt" Ty - Good Luck I hope you win" Arlovski - "grunt" and head nod. He lost. I think some highlights are on Youtube.

The first Saturday we had off I had a chance to go surfing in Newport Beach at 54th Street. I had to fix the nose of my board with some resin before I could get out in the water. It took me about 20 minutes to fix it in the sun. I used to surf here as a kid and everything still looked the same. I didn't remember the beach houses costing millions of dollars though.

It was low tide and the jetties were exposed to the ends.

The tourist/week-end warrior is getting in the water. Yikes.

The jetties of course are covered in mussels.

Barnacles were everywhere too.

I saw a couple of Starfish in the rocks and upon further inspection found the mother load! I must of seen about 35 just on this jettie.

As I looked closer I found some classic California tide pool creatures. This sea anemone was pretty big. I broke off some mussels and threw them against the rocks like the old days and gave some of them a feast.

They had multiple shells attached to them that looked like an art project of Tia.

I was taking a picture of some barnacles and saw of few of these guys also. Deep in the cracks of the rocks. Patiently waiting for some food.

It was rainy for the last couple of days and it seemed to keep the crowds away. I was able to catch about 25 waves until my arms became spaghetti noodles.

At the Double tree they have these beautiful birds of paradise all over the grounds. I did laundry tonight and was taking a picture of them when my little friend appeared out of nowhere to get in my picture. I could hear him buzzing around but I didn't see him until I took this picture and later saw it on my camera.

Sugar Bowl - Jan. 2, 2009

2009-01-07T21:59:00.000-08:00

My football buddy.

Amazing first quarter that changed everything! 21-0. My other football buddy that was cheering with his dad. He had fun being a copy cat.

I watched Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer talk bad about the Utes and their conference saying they had to show them something to earn their respect. :) They had a different attitude after the game on ESPN.

Joshua in the bathroom sink sucking his thumb while getting a bath. He loves his baths.

New Year's Eve 2008

2009-01-07T21:21:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Martenellis and 4 glasses for the late night party animals.

Tia preparing her Lemonade Floats from our backyard lemons on NY Eve.

The secret honey ingredient.

Tia's lemonade floats with raspberry sherbert. MMMM Good.

She seemed to try everything before serving anything.

JT and Dad playing Wii ski on NY Eve.

Winter Wonderland in Tucson

2008-12-31T22:26:00.000-08:00

This is Mt. Lemmon in Tucson 3 days after Christmas. It was about 29 degrees up there! We wanted to go up the mountain on Friday but the road was still closed due to the snow. They opened the road on Sat. for 4-wheel drive trucks and 2-wheel drive cars with chains. We called the Hooblers and invited them to go with us to play in the Winter Wonderland. We waited in line for 30 minutes about 1/2 up where the police check point was. At one point there was a Grandpa walking faster than our car. It was worth the wait.

Tia and Jonathan on a sled with handles. We didn't have any snow gear so we bundled and layered.

Ice on the pine needles looked like they had lights in them when the sun was shining.

Jonathan caught a snowball with his face.

He wasn't too happy about it and began to cry when he realized that it was cold!

Tia the Snow Angel.

Tia misjudged her speed and trajectory. She ended up off the trail and into a tree.

Ahh the smiles of a good time in the mountains.

The long walk back up the hill. We brought out the tubes later ate our lunches in the car because the kiddos were frozen.

Christmas Time!

2008-12-31T22:09:00.000-08:00

Live Nativity

2008-12-24T19:03:00.000-08:00

This is our first ever reenactment of the Luke 2 Bible story of the birth of our Savior. I read the story while Tia and Jonathan played the shepherds. Ruth played Mary and Joshua was baby Jesus. We set up the manger with a basket and blanket in front of the Christmas tree and used the overhead light as the star that appeared. As you can see from the video that we had some technical difficulties at the end. Merry Christmas!

Disco Fever

2008-12-24T16:26:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Countdown to Christmas

2008-12-24T08:16:00.000-08:00

My Boyz next to the Christmas tree.

Santa's Elf. Does he look like he has been good this year?

Tia, JT and Joshua at Winterhaven all bundled up.

The family at Winterhaven

The kidz at our Church's Nativity scene. Every year they have a production with many of our ward members that play the wise men and Inn keeper. They all grow their beards for a few weeks and turn into thespians for a good cause. We usually go twice a year to this because I think it is great to see a live nativity that reinforces our teachings about our Savior and all that He has done for us.

My Tangelo orange tree has produced a bunch of oranges this year. The weather has been mild and has not dipped below freezing yet so I have been able to leave them on the tree longer to ripen! Ruth bought me a juice squeezer a few years back and we have used it every year to make fresh orange juice. Yum, I think I will go cut open two of them and make some juice after this blog.

Ruth makes these cookies every year and I seem to eat more than my share. They are like magnets.

JT and I had some movie night hot chocolate and watched The Polar Express. "Well, are you comin? Why To the North Pole of course!" These are some mugs from the McGill family last year.

The Real Thanksgiving

2008-12-10T20:27:00.000-08:00

These are some arrow heads and pottery fragments that we found.

Jonathan and his cousin Lindy diggin in the electric barbie jeep.

Jayce , Cade and Uncle Ty jumping off the sand dunes.

Jayce and Uncle Ty seeing who could jump the furthest down the hill with Cade close behind.

Tia and JT at the sand dunes in Page, Az. We stopped to get some wiggles out play in the red sand. We collected some rocks, explored some of the canyons and looked for lizards. Mom and Joshua are parked in the little white car on the right.

The uphill climb to the fun zone. These dunes are about 25 miles outside of Page AZ right before you go through the big split in the rock with the view of the Colorado River valley. It is on the 89 going south towards Flagstaff.

Jonathan's long climb was worth it. And still in his army PJs.

This is Uncle Chad digging out his beautiful $500 4X4 Bronco. It rained the night before so we had fun on the hard packed sand until we tried to climb this hill and slid off the side. Delta Sand dunes the Friday after Thanksgiving.

We had four wheelers and dirt bikes too.

It took us about 30 minutes of digging to decide we needed to get pulled out by the other truck.

Tia and Mom getting crazy on the ATV.

The cousins getting warm after the fun.

Tia the carnivore. Ham and Turkey with cream soda. Yuuuummmm.

Jonathan the vegan. Carrots, cashews, crackers and a roll.

Aunt Kelly's backyard was full of adventure with horses, trampolines, dollhouses and of course big orange air guns. Jonathan and Cheyenne in make believe land.

Porter Rockwell's cabin now in the Eureka mining town. Built in 1865 in Tooele.

JT the pioneer. Maybe we will grow his hair out like Porter.

Jt the train lover in Eureka.

Tia and Shaylie with their new friends at Grandma's house. They named them midnight and rejoice. Notice the strings for leashes. They made some custom beds out of cardboard packed with soft blankets.

Thanksgiving in Utah

2008-12-03T20:36:00.000-08:00

We arrived behind enemy lines on Saturday November 22nd in Happy Valley. Grandma and Grandpa are BYU fans so we went outside to take our family picture before the Holy War began. Grandma Snow couldn't get the game on TV so she set up the radio in the living room and listened while she cooked and updated the family when someone scored.

My Ricks College and U of U roommate Rees and his son Dane met me downtown in SLC to catch a ride on the Traxx. I have not been in the football stadium since I was in school and things have definitely changed since the Olympics. Our seats were in Section 21 on the north side of the stadium in the end zone. It was crazy just getting to our seats because the Ute fans were very energetic. Dane was a BYU fan so we had to dress him appropriately (in red) to save his life. We had a lot of fun watching the student section jump up and down all night long.

This poor guy on the right had a rough night in the RED sea.

This ultimate Utes fan was rowdy all night long. Go Utes!

BCS dance after the game.

The Blow Out

2008-11-13T20:56:00.000-08:00

This was a serious one. He was feeding when Ruth decided that noise might have been more than a toot. Sure enough, code red, stage four blow out.

Everything seemed to be fine and dandy.

Ahhhh changed at last.

Take that Grandma!

These are Tia's books from the Library. We taught her how to reserve them online and then they e-mail her when they come in. Ruth took her to the library one day to return some of Jonathan's books and this is what Tia reserved. Minute Mysteries 2, Earthquake in the Early Morning, Happy Birthday Addy, Winter of the Ice Wizard, The Stolen Sapphire, Christmas in Camelot, Meet Felicity An American Girl and Summer of the Sea Serpent.

Primary Program 08

2008-11-13T20:49:00.000-08:00

Tia had to memorize her part for her primary program and was very nervous at first until she began to memorize it. We practiced at home in front of the family and then behind the kitchen island. We worked on her volume , pitch, articulation and tempo. We had a special FHE for the songs so she could remember the words and played her primary CD in the car while driving around. This was her scripture that she recited over the pulpit; "Therefore, O Ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength that ye may stand blameless before God in the last day". Tia wore her white sweater with a pink, mother-of-pearl necklace consisting of butterflies and flowers that was made by her Aunt Mahana from Tahiti. She had a Burgundy cord skirt and matching headband with rhinestones rounded out with white leggings and black shoes. :) Girly stuff I guess.

Surfing in Tucson

2008-11-02T21:39:00.000-08:00

Well, since we live in the desert I decided to teach my kids how to surf on the grass in our backyard. I wish we lived closer to the beach but this will have to do for now. It was still 90 degrees last week so we got out our swimsuits and went for a swim after our surf lessons.

Tia has good form but is scared of seaweed. We have a long way to go before she is getting tubed like a Roxy Girl but I think she can do it.

JT was more interested in his poses than anything else. He seems to think he has muscles already.

I would have gotten beat up if I surfed like these clowns. I'll give them an "A"for creativity. They must of thought this was dancing with the stars surfing American idol style.

My Brown Eyed Girl

2008-10-22T23:14:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of my brown eyed girl and her little Joshua on the day of his blessing in church. The Picture was taken by her sister Lois from Mesa. Our family is growing and we can't be happier having another baby keeping us up at night. "Children are an heritage of the Lord" (Psalms 127:3). The sanctity of life is amazing and we are grateful to be able to experience the miracle and wonder of life. We feel that all of our children are miracles. Joshua is also starting to talk (making noises) now and sometimes we catch him giggling in his sleep. I think he cried through the whole blessing too. Moose must have been hungry.

CDO River Front Park AKA - Lambert Park

2008-10-19T21:03:00.000-07:00

Tia putting the pressure on Dad to try and get by her giggling defense.

JT taking his best power shot. He would get upset when I wouldn't let him score every time so I had to fake like I was trying. :)

Little man fell in a hole while running but kept on flying the kite from his back.

Double click on this collage to see a larger version if you would like. We went to the park for the kids to get their wiggles out and run free. Tia brought her butterfly nets and Jonathan brought a soccer ball, Frisbee and Tia's ladybug kite. Joshua brought his appetite and Mom and Dad were able to put them all to bed early. Ride to park $5. Lunch at Rubios $15. Family time - Priceless!

Fire and Hot Chocolate

2008-10-05T20:59:00.000-07:00

It finally cooled off enough for us to enjoy our backyard tonight. We loved General Conference this week-end and rewarded the kids for being as good as they could be for two straight days by having some hot chocolate and a fire. We built a fire in our broken down chiminea that has served us well over the years and looked at the stars and the crescent moon. We had some leftover pine wood from Mt. Lemmon and some branches from our own trees to build a nice fire.

Tia made our hot chocolate and Jonathan set up the chairs while dad built the fire.

Jonathan came up to me with a serious look on his face today and said:

" Dad we need to talk."

He climbed on my lap and I said , Ok.

Grabbing his first finger he said:

" We need to go to the park and go down the slide first."

He grabbed his next finger and said:

"Then we need to go to nursery and not to the forest and then get some chocolate milk."

I agreed. "

Little man Joshua catching some ZZZZs on Dad.

Conference is over.

Free at last. Tia watched all 8 hours of General Conference and was a very good helper to her mom with Joshua and keeping JT from driving everyone crazy. She has been a blessing in our home and our baby girl is growing up fast and getting taller!

Self Portrait by Jonathan

2008-09-27T22:37:00.001-07:00

Jonathan has been asking to take pictures with my work camera lately and we have often said "no" to keep it from getting ruined. He seemed to have found it all alone today and this is what I discovered when I turned it on. Jonathan's self portraits. Enjoy.

Our citrus trees attract these large black and yellow butterflies every year and Tia finally caught one today. They lay their eggs on the new bright green leaves that sprout in the spring and fall. The caterpillars then feed on the new leaves and we sometimes can find 20 of them on the trees. At Grandpa McGrevy's funeral a blue and black butterfly showed up and flew into the tomb while they were lowering his casket into the ground. It later reappeared and flew around the foot of his casket until it was completely lowered and then flew off. Grandpa majored in Botany at BYU Hawaii and had an extensive butterfly collection that he donated years ago.

She decided to put tinfoil on top with holes in it so it could breathe. I remember doing that as a kid with the big red ants we would catch.

The butterfly whisperer decided to let this one go and watched it lay an egg after so she felt like she did the right thing. I guess the butterfly interests have passed down to her from Grandpa.

Jonathan and Blaine had a sleep over while Julie and Marv went to the hospital to have their new baby. We thought it would be a good time to teach them about their new arrivals and how to hold them.

They were holding the babies nicely until they decided to crash their heads together.

Blaine was poking his baby's eyes out and Jonathan thought that his baby was boring.

The Limetree.

2008-09-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

We picked about 45 limes off of our tree to replenish the stock for our homemade beverage. We must of picked over 450 limes this year. We pick them and throw them on the lawn so Jonathan and Tia can put them in buckets. I also collected about 7 mosquito bites in the process.

Jonathan insisted that he could get a lime that he saw and sure enough he was able to reach it. Tia also climbed up high to get a couple of limes from the tree. She was meticulous in checking for bugs and bees that might be lingering near.

JT decided to write on his arms with a red marker because he said he went to school tonight but didn't have any paper. He is interested in doing his homework like his big sister.

One Month Old!

2008-09-14T19:26:00.001-07:00

Joshua is one month old now and this is Tia making him smile. He is opening his eyes a lot more now and sometimes sleeps three hours between feedings! He is a very good baby so far and is very quiet compared to his older brother. Jonathan still has some jealousy issues and kicked Joshua in the head the other day. Tia was holding him on the bed and JT gave him a karate chop side kick to the noggin. I think we are going to have an anger management family home evening in the future. Joshua weighs 10 lbs 10 oz. now and still has rolls everywhere. I even noticed some rolls in his armpits. Are you supposed to have rolls there?

This is the Tucson Hamptons after church in the backyard.

Joshua 3 Weeks Old

2008-09-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

Our bundle of Joy! These are for Grandma Tahiti and Grandma Snow.

Joahua telling Tia a story. He likes to hold tight on her fingers as they stare into each others eyes.

Jonathan always seems to be around the corner to sneak in a kiss. We still catch him squeezing his cheeks.

Jonathan can't seem to get enough of his army man pajamas. Tonight he decided to pack some heat just in case the bad guys show up. He is constantly looking in the dryer to see if his camouflage PJs are clean to wear.

2 Weeks Old

2008-08-30T19:06:00.000-07:00

JOSHUA
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: JAH-shə-wə (English), JAW-shwə (English)
From the Hebrew name (Yehoshu'a) meaning "YAHWEH is salvation". Joshua was one of the twelve spies sent into Canaan by Moses in the Old Testament. After Moses died Joshua succeeded him as leader of the Israelites. As an English name, Joshua has been in use since the Protestant Reformation.
The name Jesus comes from a Greek translation of the Aramaic short form (Yeshu'a), which was the real name of Jesus.

Joshua's talents so far. Sleep, eat, cry and Poop! We are so proud of his progress. He seems to be blonde up top and brownish/red on the sides with a high hairline. I think he has dark blue eyes. It is hard to tell because when I shine the flashlight in his eyes he seems to not like that. I will try a quicker flash to catch him off gaurd next time and get back to you on his coloring. :)
He is a very good baby so far. We haven't had any jealousy issues until Jonathan had some concerns while sitting on the couch reading with mom;

JT " I don't like Joshua."

Ruth "Well that's not nice because your brother loves you."

Then a long pause.

JT "Joshua needs to go back in your tummy."

Ruth "You can't put him back in my tummy because he is here to stay.",

Long pause.

JT "I love Joshua".

The happy family. Tia has been a great big sister and loves to share her brother with whomever comes to the front door. She is always asking to hold the baby...........until he cries.

Sorry, couldn't get this picture to turn. You'll have to tilt your noggin.

Catching flies.

Wayne Nelson McGrevy

2008-08-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

Ruth's Father passed away early Friday morning with his wife by his side. He has valiantly battled Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Cancer for a few months and is now called home to be with loved ones. We will miss our Father deeply and are grateful for the example that he was to all of us. He truly was a wonderful man that cared deeply for his family and was a humble follower and disciple of Christ.

Grandpa and Jonathan dancing in the living room at our last visit. Grandpa enjoyed the outdoors and took us on an awesome hike in the mountains to go slide down a series of lava tubes that dropped into cold pools of water before going over the edge of a 150 waterfall!! During the hike we were able to see the "Diadem" (crown) near their house. It is a rock formation shaped like a perfect crown.

Joshua Wayne Hampton

2008-08-16T16:51:00.000-07:00

8-14-08. This is our new baby boy named Joshua Wayne Hampton. He was born on Thursday night at 8:17 P.M. at the Northwest Women's Center. He weighed in at 10 pounds 6 ounces and was 21 inches long! The nurses called him "moose".

Tia and Jonathan were both excited to see and hold their new baby brother.

Jonathan giving Joshua some big brother kisses.

I think we found our future baby sitter. Tia has been a great help already and has held the baby the most in our family.

Joshua decided to show where all the weight came from. His big muscles.

Countdown to Thursday

2008-08-10T19:19:00.000-07:00

Well we didn't make the 8-8-08 birthday but the doctor did schedule an inducement date for 8-14-08. We are very happy to have a date and I think that Ruth is the most grateful. We took these pictures today before church to see who was bigger. I think the seedless watermelon is bigger.

Ruth was obviously excited to pose with my watermelon. The baby is on schedule to probably be a 10 pounder. We weighed this watermelon and it was 20 pounds. It wouldn't fit under my shirt very well because of the overcrowding and competition from my own "sympathy" weight.

If you look closely you can see the similarities in shape and size. I fortunately was able to put mine down after the pictures.

Family Home Evening

2008-08-04T23:18:00.000-07:00

Tia and Jonathan learning how to hold and take care of our new baby that is on his way to our house. We talked about how special they are and not to carry them around by the neck like Jonathan was doing with his doll. It took some time but I think we accomplished our goal. Jonathan did know where to find the bottle though and how to feed the baby. There is hope.

We asked a few questions during our family home evening lesson and one of the questions was:

"Where do babies come from"?

Tia: From Heaven
Jonathan: From the baby store!

Tia's Limeade for the Driggs Family

2008-08-04T23:00:00.000-07:00

Tia cutting her 10 limes for her delicious limeade. She mixes the concentrate first then adds the water to create her savory beverage. Notice the precision cutting and Martha Stewart focus.

Dad picks the limes off the tree in the back yard for Tia's juicy juice. In Tia's kitchen we use stepping stools to bring perspective to her developing culinary skills.

Every batch is hand squeezed by little Tia. She doesn't mind the labor of love.

Baby Shower

2008-08-04T22:52:00.000-07:00

Ruth's customized invitations to Julie McGill's baby shower. She had leftover glitter all over her face after so I called her "sparkles" all night.

Sparkles is letting them dry with strict rules not to touch!

Happy Birthday Jean-Philippe!

2008-07-23T22:57:00.000-07:00

Jean-Philippe,

We decided to sing Happy Birthday to you and post it on our blog so you can view it in Tahiti without any delay. We wish we could be there in person to enjoy the party but we will settle for some pictures. Happy Birthday and may you have a wonderful year. Joyeux Anniversaire!!

Love,

The Hampton Family.

Spike/Charlotte

2008-07-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

This is the new addition to our family after the last monsoon rains. Ruth and Tia decided to name him Spike if it's a him. Charlotte if it's a girl. We can't find out the gender until it's about 10 years old so I think I will call "it" by a gender neutral name. Maybe Nike after the golf ball next to "it". Any suggestions?

Jonathan is learning how to swim after he jumps in the pool and has been watching his big sister swim freestyle. His version of freestyle included this lovely move when he decided to do his first flip instead. He got a nose full of water as a bonus for his artistic maneuvers.

Tia's Jewelry Creations

2008-07-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

This is a pair of earrings that Tia made for her friend. She made it out of a Tahitian Shell necklace that broke so she added some of her beads and made a new creation.

She decided to add a necklace with a shell from Rocky Point, Mexico for her friend to match.

Intense concentration.

Ruth helped Tia get her beads organized so she can focus on her artistic masterpieces.

2008-07-07T10:27:00.000-07:00

Thunderclouds forming over our house!

Jonathan's "big gun" for his potty training reward.

Snake in our yard before the monsoon rains.

JT and his "Army Mans".

4th of July.

4th of July holding the new addition.

JT Glad to have his mommy back.

Tia with her new pareo from Grandma.

Bird of paradise flower from our front yard.

Tia ready for church in her new shoes.

Such a lady.

Ruth's train cake and JT's guns!

2008-06-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

Those are marshmellows for the smoke stack and oreo wheels with skittle hubcaps.

Chocolate covered peanuts in the first car and tootsie rolls in the caboose.

Mr. Thomas-the-train lover got his wish.

The Tucson Kid.

One of Charlie's Angels and the Tucson kid.

Jonathan's 3rd Birthday at the Firestation

2008-06-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

Tia and Jonathan on the green.

JT and his buddy Blaine having lunch on his 3rd birthday.

JT and his rat pack at the firestation tour. He loves firetrucks and trains.

Lee's Ferry Fly Fishing by Lake Powell - Teacher's Q Spring break 2008

2008-06-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

Fly Fishing at Lee's Ferry below Lake Powell. This is a good website to check out the area and history. http://www.nps.gov/glca/planyourvisit/lees-ferry.htm
Beautiful rainbow trout.

John D. Lee's homestead. In 1878 Charles Shumway, my mother's great great great grandfather, sent his boys from Kanab, Utah to Arizona with their cattle. They drove the cattle down to Lee's Ferry, across the Colorado River and up Lee's backbone, and on to Grand Falls where they built a little house and stayed for the winter. They were visited by Wilford Woodruff that year and at his request carved his name on a rock near Grand Falls. They later moved to Concho, Arizona and then settled Shumway, Arizona near Snowflake.

Tiger Woods 2008 Match Play practice round

2008-06-27T23:05:00.000-07:00

I followed Tiger Woods around on his practice round @ Matchplay like a groupie and was about 10 feet away on this par three. Tiger hit some awesome shots but also hit some in the desert!

The Golfers @ The Practice Tee

2008-06-27T22:57:00.000-07:00

If you watch closely JT hits the fence and Tia pops up her shot about 20 feet. It was fun to hit some golf balls and hear their comments. Ruth and Uncle Quinn came with us too.

Jonathan and Ruth making a shirt for Grandpa Tahiti

2008-06-27T22:32:00.000-07:00

Ruth, Jonathan and Tia made a shirt for Grandpa Tahiti for his hospital stay. He was diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma.
Tia and JT with their finished product.