Random February!

It's been a busy month in some of our families.

Sarah went on a field trip to the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas!

 The Melanchuks went to a Lego store!

 Nathaniel got a matching game to play from his Sunbeam teacher!

 Jeff's family went to the Wichita Zoo!

from Suzie: "Sam with the other boys who made it into Sousa Band.  They did really well.  It was a fun concert.  Sam was 1st Chair!"

Julia went with her choir to Disneyland!

John's girls enjoyed helping him build and then play with this 

Knex Big Ball Factory!

Jacob liked dressing up as Darth Vadar!

 David had fun building this Marble Run!

Blue and Gold dinner one night in Florida!

 Two nights later it was the Pinewood Derby!

 Elizabeth performed in a choir concert!

And a new foal born at the neighbors of the Melanchuks.

This is the morning after!

Christmas Gift Outing #2: Keeping It Local!

Maybe because it's been raining a lot and maybe just because it's winter, I've been hibernating in my house a lot lately.

So a perfect outing for me in February was to get out of the house and get a few things done and see how the world is doing!

We picked a sunny day with some pretty clouds!

I needed to get the stake bulletin board up, so that was our first stop:

Then a stop at the dry cleaners.

Why is this significant for my Outings gift?  When Dan retired 3 years ago, it seemed like I should get to retire from something too.   I decided I wanted to retire from ironing his shirts.  I ironed them faithfully (and gratefully I might add that he had a good job and that he was a worthy priesthood older) for over 40 years.  This was often 7 or 8 shirts per week. Now he takes them to the cleaners.  I love being retired!

Then a pleasant drive to the Cheesecake Factory in Roseville for lunch:

Next we went to RC Willey where I got to pick out a new dishwasher:

Then back to Folsom to check out Folsom Lake.  This was the lake during the drought:

Here's the picture we took Friday:  (Love the clouds!)

And last but not least, the perfect end to the outing: Jamba Juice!

Now back for a little more hibernating before Spring!

Rookery, Manatees and Wawa!

A rookery was built on the ranch and it was fun to go there at twilight and see some of the birds coming to roost.  Because of the time of day, it was hard to get good pictures.

It was a very scenic place!

Amanda heard we might be able to see manatees over by the coast in some of the canals.  Manatees roam the waters of southeast Florida from April through October--but when things get a bit chilly, they head to places like freshwater springs, where the temperatures remain constant throughout the year.

Manatees are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows.

We saw this sign at a spot where some have seen a lot of Manatees.

But we didn't see any.  Just a couple of bumps above the water.

Manatees spend approximately 50% of the day sleeping submerged, surfacing for air regularly.  This is the type of canal where you will see them.

We also checked another place and watched a dolphin, some pelicans and again we just saw a hint of the Manatees.

This is what we were hoping to see:

We ate at a gas station once in Texas and I thought that would be my only experience of that.  But Florida has Wawa! It's a gas station combo with an eating place.  You order on Ipads and in a few minutes your food is ready.  We took ours home but you can sit outside and eat while enjoying the view of the pumps.  It was very good food!   

We were fortunate to be able to stay in this mobile home on our recent visit.  It's not always available as official Ranch visitors get priority.  

Thanks, Melanchuks!  See you again!!

More Fun In Florida!

Some other fun things we did while we were in Florida with the Melanchuk family:
Alligator hunts!

Can you spot the one in the water below?

A baby alligator!

Picking oranges on the Ranch!

On Daniel's baptsim day we all went for dinner at a restaurant of Daniel's choosing:

Daniel and Darryl sampled catfish, alligator, turtle and frog legs!

We learned a new game:  It's called Splendor

It says it's for ages 10 and up but Michael was actually a very good player!

Fun With Nathaniel!

We enjoyed spending some extra time with Nathaniel on our recent trip!

He liked reading books...

And riding on Grandpa's horse...

He did a little painting...

And taught Grandma some signs...

He likes being outside and riding his bike...

And sometimes he likes being funny: putting on some silly glasses...

It was fun for us because Nathniel wanted to be with us and made sure we were part of every activity.

We took a Selfie and I think he is smiling too!