Memee Comes to Visit

While on the west coast, Memee flew up for a couple of days to visit with us. All of us, as you can see, were very happy to see her.

Chillin' at Home

Thanksgiving with Nana & Grandpa

Our Trip Home

These photos are taken in the Navajo Nation, about 30 minutes south of Lake Powell. We timed it perfect.

Usually, we drive home from Arizona on a Sunday. This time, we made sure that we went through on a Saturday so that we would be able to stop at some of the Navajo craft booths which line Highway 89. Unfortunately, not one of them was open, even though 50% of them had the word "Open" painted in big white letters on the side. This picture shows what most of the villages look like along this stretch of highway.

Big desert moon about 10 minutes south of Page, Arizona.

Christmas Lights at Our House

This year, we decided not to be the only "black hole" on the street and bought some lights for the house. I have big plans to light up all of the trees next year if I have a little bit more time.

Playing at Home

Tryptophan

Jude: now officially classified as a "thumb sucker"

Emily hadn't been sitting for more than two minutes when we looked over and saw that she was out cold. She was halfway through a bite of cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes and still had a mouthful of food!

Emily Playing With Family at Thanksgiving

Swinging with Aunt Kelli.

"Hanging Out" with cousins Ben and Abby

Getting her first tiara in Abby's room.

Thanksgiving Celebrity Sightings in Gilbert, Arizona

Here, an up and rising diva performs while two bodyguards watch closely from backstage.

A former member of the hit band Zenflower, now retired as a professional musician, performs an improptu concert for some local teens.

Memee & Popee's New House

Here are some pictures from our recent trip to Memee and Popee's new house in Mesa, Arizona. Emily enjoyed looking at all of the beautful bugambilia plants and collecting leaves and rocks. There certainly was lots to explore around their home.

Emily Watches the Fish @ Cabela's

Here we are at our recent visit to Cabela's. Emily was able to see the deer, mountain goats, elk, zebras, lions, mountain lions, wolves, polar bears and the talking moose. Here we are checking out an underwater habitat.

Pumpkin's Tricks: The Steady Nose Trick

While many people spend hundreds of dollars having their dogs professionally trained, Pumpkin learned all of her tricks off of a $2.50 package of sandwich ham and a few Arby's Roast Beef sandwiches. When we took her to the vet for her puppy shots at 3 months old, he and his staff were shocked when we told her to sit and she obeyed. He was then surprised to see her other tricks. Most of the dog training books we read said not to even start training puppies until they are 4 months old. I guess it just goes to show that brown Labs are the smartest dogs out there. I know that without Pumpkin's help with homework, I would have never passed my statics class at BYU.

While her repertoire has not changed much since then, I think you'll still be impressed to watch her perform her tricks, in Spanish, English and American Sign Language, in the following three videos. Sit..................... Stay.................... Enjoy!

Pumpkin's Tricks: Speak, Whisper and Go Lay Down

Pumpkin's Tricks: Sit, Lay Down and Shake

Pumpkin performs her most basic tricks in English, ASL and Spanish. She learned these from watching Baby Einstein everyday for a few months. Can your kids do this?

Jude Giggles With Mom

We have been having a tough time getting Jude to giggle for the camera. He does it all the time, but seems to lose concentration every time we whip out the camera. Trying to catch him giggle on video has helped me to understand why there still is so little video evidence of Bigfoot, The Loch Ness Monster and UFOs. While this doesn't represent his best giggles, it is the best we have been able to capture so far and gives you the general idea. Hope you enjoy it!

Current Projects: Bridges and Drop Structures

In this project, we are building bridges and drop structures along an existing dry river bed. Ususally, there is only water in it during spring runoff. These pictures were taken on a day when there was a downpour. Fortunately, our guys picked up and went home early because of the rain. About 30 minutes after they left, someone upstream released the water out of a detention pond to keep it from flooding. The wall of water smashed through the dirt retaining wall which had been built to channel water around the bridge and flooded our project. The forms you can see sticking out of the water are 9' tall, so the water there is probably about 8' deep. Exciting, huh?

Current Projects: Commercial Subdivision

Another roundabout! (They are much more exciting to look at the straight roads) This one is at a new commercial development for office buildings up on a hillside. The view here is incredible (as Im sure you can see).

Current Projects: Roundabout

Here is another project we are finishing up. We turned the old intersection into a roundabout and added a park and ride on the side. The black concrete is actually red concrete with black release powder that will be pressure washed off later to give the stamped concrete a more realistic look. We are covering all of the concrete with blankets because of the cold. Across the street, they are making snow at the ski areas and the tubing hills.

Current Project: School Bus Drop Off

Here is a new school bus drop off we just completed on the east side of Salt Lake City. The road was too steep to be used as a legal bus drop off, so we cut down into the soccer field to provide and area where the slope was less than 5%.