Boys Will Be Boys

Jared designed and built a potato launcher for one of his physics classes at BYU.  He built it, got an A on it and then gave it to Tanner for his birthday.  Little did Mom and Dad know that big brother was giving little brother a bazooka for a gift.  That's what it looks like.

 

Needless to say, Tanner was thrilled and they went right to work launching potatoes into the neighborhood.  Scary for Mom but the boys loved it.  Luckily Mom didn't have too many potatoes that actually fit and so the launcher got tucked away in a closet and Mom and Dad were relieved that that was the end of it.

But...... a few weeks after Christmas Joshua and Tanner got an idea.  Uh Oh!  They could launch snowballs with it.  That was awesome and they went pretty far.  Then they discovered that they could make custom-made "bullets" for the launcher and put them in the freezer to make them nice and hard.  Now they can launch them all the way down the street.  Luckily no broken windows or dented cars.... Yet!

What do the other parents say?  "As long as they aren't using anything flammable".  Thank goodness it is all powered by a bicycle tire pump (or if they're lucky, the neighbor's air compressor which is much faster and sends them farther).  Mom has to admit that it is fun to watch and see how high and far they can send the snow but kind of wishes she could use that shelf in the freezer.

Volunteer at the Draper Temple

So last night I was an usher near the baptismal font in the Draper Temple for the open house.  I was there from about 5 pm to 10 pm.  I stood in the same spot and smiled a lot, answered a couple of questions, and directed people where to go.  It sounds simple enough (which it was) but I was so, so tired by the time I got home.  WOW!

It was wonderful though.  They estimated about 1000 people came through per hour and it did seem like thousands.  I started trying to see how many people I could get to smile.  The kids were easy.  They smile readily.  Adults were a different story.  There are 3 categories I decided... those that smile readily, those that shyly smile as if they might be embarrassed (the majority), and those who look at you like you are wierd.  Luckily not too many in that last category.  

The little kids were all so cute.  So reverent and in awe of this beautiful place that is the Lord's House.  So many people... all different sizes, shapes, and colors and all God's children coming to see His House.  I love the temple!

A Model Train Show

We went to a model train show last weekend.  It was really fun and we wish we had the time, space, and money to get into that hobby.  Oh well, I'm glad we got to see what others have done.  The most amazing one was the huge lego train and setup.  It was fascinating.

Back Into Politics

Well, I must admit that I got overloaded with politics and so I took a break for a while.  I am getting back into it though and if anyone is interested my musings take a look at my other blog, Gaylene's Political Studies.

It's Cold but the Draper Temple is Beautiful

I am officially missing California.  It is so cold here!!  Everyone keeps telling me how nice the weather has been for January and it's so nice that the sun is out.... but come on, 30 degrees in the middle of the day is not "nice".  I don't mind the cold so much when there is beautiful snow on the ground but that is all gone too.  Oh well.... there is some snow expected in a few days.

On the up side, we went to the Draper Temple Open House last weekend and it was beautiful.  Luckily we had tickets for Saturday morning so it wasn't crowded and we got right in (unlike Friday evening when I guess you had to wait about 2 hours to get in).  We took our whole family plus my brother's family plus some of our neighbors and everyone really enjoyed it.  It is such a beautiful, peaceful place and I can't wait for it to be dedicated so we can use it.  David and I went to the Jordan River Temple last week and we had to stand in a long line just to get into the chapel.  The lockers were all full so there were lines there and the temple was just packed.  It's wonderful to see so many people there but it sure makes for a long evening of waiting.

Snow Fun

We had a nice wet snow storm that was perfect for snowman building and snowballs!!

Notice the little snow hill behind the boys... directly in front of them (where the camera is for this picture) are the back stairs to our house.  The boys and some friends packed the stairs with snow and made a great sledding hill.   They kept running into the neighbor's bush so they built that little snow bank that you can see behind them and they would bank around that to finish their run.  All the kids spent hours sliding down that over and over again.

Happy New Year

My brother, Curtis, and his family came for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. We had a great time playing games, eating food, and welcoming in the New Year together.  Above is a picture of Rebecca and Rachel and their cousin Becky cheering and banging pots and pans at mindnight. We hope you all had a wonderful celebration as we look forward to this great upcoming year.

The next day was filled with more games, food and football (both playing and watching on TV).

Jared did catch that, by the way.

Adam got worn out and spent the afternoon sleeping (as we wished we all were).