Bathroom Makeover

This week we had a bathroom makeover.  Okay, it wasn't a complete makeover, we really just added some paint, and touched up the flooring.  But it feels like quite the makeover.  For years, my bathroom has been all the same color of tan, the ceiling, walls, etc.  I liked the color, so that wasn't a really bad thing, but I never did like the ceiling being tan, and it didn't really highlight the nice stone around the bathtub very well.  So we added some contrast.  We painted the south wall a chocolate brown, and continued that color around the base of the bathtub.  We painted the ceiling white and touched up the tan paint around the rest of the bathroom.  It looks fresh and clean.  I love the contrast with the stone and the white ceiling makes it feel like less of a boxy cube.  Such small things can make such a difference.

Junior Spikers Volleyball

It has been a while since I have put up a volleyball post, but it is time again.  This spring, Gabe participated in a volleyball group called Junior Spikers.  It is a cross between club and rec center volleyball.  They didn't play in any matches, but they had practices twice a week that were devoted to working on the finer skills needed to play the game well.  Since it is mainly a stepping stone for girls to enter the wide world of club volleyball, Gabe was a little hesitant to join.  But with reassurance that there were several boys enrolled, he joined.  It was a great experience.  They had so much fun playing and Gabe has learned a lot.  His playing has improved and he has become a more consistent player.  Their last practice was this week.  It has been a great experience.

Slurpee Saturday

Yesterday, 7-11 ran a promotion, fill your own container with slurpee.  We took full advantage of this promotion.  At first, Gabe and I just filled our travel mugs, which weren't much bigger than a large slurpee.  But then the kids got creative.  They went back and filled an entire red vines container.  They were a little worried that the sales clerk would balk, but she didn't.  Jeff and I thought that the container would last a while, but it was gone within about a half hour.  That just whetted their appetite.  Since Gabe was have a party that night, we went back with the red vines container AND a mixing bowl that was even bigger.  We filled both to the brim with "slurpee" that was only about half frozen since it was near the end of the day.  The boys at the party thought it was a bit strange, but they were fully on board with the deliciousness!  It was a very fun day.

Gravesite plunder

Yesterday, we participated in an Eagle Scout project that was most interesting.  We all downloaded the app "Billion Graves" on our phones, then took pictures of the headstones at a local cemetery.  The app recorded the picture and the GPS location.  Then the records will be indexed so that they are searchable for those that are trying to find their ancestors.  It was fascinating.  I didn't read all of the headstones, but a few caught my eye.  We found headstones with Raiders football team logos, Harry Potter, temples, music notes and instruments.  It was interesting to see how a simple decoration or pictures could really tell you a lot about the person.  We enjoyed doing the project.  I thought that the information that you could get from a headstone was much greater than just names and dates, it was like ancestry plunder and spoils!

Rocket Day

For the past 3 months Gabe has been focused on his rocket project in his Honors Science class since it is a significant portion of his grade.  It is a super bottle rocket.  They were all about 5 feet long with fins, an altimeter, and even a parachute to guide it down safely.  He was on the parachute deployment team, so he focused on the parachute.  We heard about it nearly daily for the past few weeks, although he has been talking mostly with Jeff about it lately.  This weekend all the teams set off their rockets.  It was very fun, about half the time the parachute didn't work and the rocket would come crashing back to earth like an enormous lawn dart, then crumple upon impact.  But every once in a while, one would function properly with a great parachute deployment and come floating back to earth.  Gabe's teams first attempt was okay, the rocket went up, but the parachute came out way too early, and ripped on the way up, so it didn't really gently fall down.  It was a little crumpled, but not nearly as bad as many others.  His second attempt was perfect.  The rocked just shot up really high, then just as it was starting to fall, the parachute flew out, and it gently glided back to earth.  It took a while to find it because the wind caught it and it landed on the roof of the buildings.  But once they found it, they were thrilled!  It went 352 feet into the air, and set a new school record.  He was very happy about the parachute, and the height, their rocket did very well.

Hawaii

Since my parents are on a mission in Hawaii, Jeff and I decided it was time to take a trip there to visit them.  Jeff's sister, Jill, and his mother joined us for most of the trip.  We spent 10 days in the tropics soaking up the sun and enjoying the fairer weather.  We spent most of our time on Oahu, but took a quick trip over to the big island, Hawaii, to see Volcano National Park.  It was a very worthwhile trip.  We were able to walk across a dormant volcano, see the glow of an active lava lake and watch the lava flow from a cliff into the ocean.  It was amazing to see the power and force of nature at work.  We also enjoyed the black sand, where we saw sea turtles, and green sand beach.  On Oahu, we saw the enormous North Shore waves and the reckless surfers that braved them.  We visited the Polynesian Cultural Center to learn more about the Pacific Islands, and honored our Navy at Pearl Harbor.  One of our favorite activities was snorkeling.  It took us a few minutes to get the hang of it, but once we did, we were off to explore the world under the surface.  The sea life was amazing.  We had a great trip and have come home with many memories.

Seeing Double

Jeff was very tickled to get us all set up on our computers.  It seems that we have had an extra monitor or two sitting around the house for several years.  Jeff finally decided to do something about it.  He set up a double monitor for each of our computers.  After months of trying to fix the kids computer, we not only have two working computers, but two monitors on each of the working computers.  It makes for quite a view from my kitchen counter.  I wonder if I can do a panorama of a a city in Europe, or maybe an ocean wave coming.....