Weather

While checking the local newspaper for what's going on in the world today I came across the weather. I think this is my favorite forecast so far. Monday ??? we don't know what's going to happen. Weatherman-the only job you can have where you can consistently be wrong (or ambiguous in this case) and people will still keep paying you.

Century Minus a Decade

Grandpa's Birthday Cake

Grandpa and Grandma at Yen Ching

My grandpa will be turning 90 in a couple of weeks so over Christmas break while everyone was off of school we decided to celebrate his birthday. We got together on the 2nd and had a wonderful party for him. Everyone was there except for the three cousins who are on missions. We started out with the task of taking family pictures. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. Laurel took the pictures of everyone and then used the timer to get all of us together. After the pictures we went to Yen Ching, the best Chinese place ever, for a great dinner. All the older cousins sat at a table together which was tons of fun.
Geoff getting the perks of being an MC

Geoff was put in charge of the program so we planned all sorts of fun/embarrassing things for our parents to do since they pawned it all off on us. I think the restaurant was glad when the 30 of us left and went to the church for the next part of our night. We had decorated the Relief Society room with birthday decorations and even brought the couches in so that Grandma and Grandpa would be comfortable. The program started off with Carolyn singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Aaron and Reese did "Chem 111" which involved using household chemicals to make experiments. Grandpa was a Chem major, so this went over well. Susan played Can You Feel the Love Tonight. Thomas played a song on the piano by Rachmaninov. Melanie sang Stormy Weather. The little cousins sang I am a Child of God. Mike and Timothy played the trumpet and the funnel to Popcorn Popping. Then we got to the even more fun part. We had Barbara juggle sugar packets from the restaurant. She did ok with the first one, but could use some juggling lessons. Dad played Home Home on the Range with the spoons. And Bob did the classic Heart where he takes his heart out and then swallows it again.
But the best part of the night was hearing each of the children talk about Grandpa and his wonderful life. What an amazing man he is. I love learning more and more about him all the time. It was so much fun to see all the family and just spend quality time together.

Crusin' California

After all the Christmas festivities were over my family packed up and made the >1000 mile drive from Oregon down to Southern California. I must say that flying is the way to go, even though I don't particularly enjoy it either. But it wasn't too bad thanks to Grandma Scoville and the DVD player she got us for Christmas. The kids were plugged in in the back seat most of the drive down. We do have one of those monster vans that holds 15 (well 11 because the back seat was taken out so we could fit our luggage back there) but it was still close quarters. Susan and I ended up sitting in the front row, then Steven, David and Laura were in the middle row and Thomas got the whole back row to himself for most of the trip. We left on Saturday the 27th and drove down through the snowy mountains of Oregon. We were blessed though because we didn't even have to put chains on and we made it safely through the mountains. We drove down to Walt and Jodi's house in El Dorado Hills that day. It was fun to see them. I hadn't been to their house for many years. We had a great dinner and then headed down to Glen's house in Livermore. He wasn't there because he was still gone for the holidays. But we stayed at his house. I also hadn't been there in years and his house looks quite different than the last time I was there. We had a funny visit about 10:30 that night. Some of the Priests in Glen's ward heard that he had neices that were staying at his house that weekend and decided they wanted to meet them. So they came over with cookies and ice cream. Too bad we were all getting ready for bed by the time they got there. They missed meeting Susan. But we went to his ward on Sunday and Mom recognized one of them that came to visit the night before. It was quite amusing.

After church we drove to pick up Carolyn and Nate in San Jose and then proceeded down Highway 101 to San Simeon. It was a beautiful drive (much better than I-5). Dad did a good job driving, but it got kind of windey after a while and we all started to feel sick. We did stop a couple of times to get out and just see the beauty. We stopped off on the 17-mile drive through Pebble Beach and other great golf courses. It was great and the houses were amazing. We made it down to San Simeon that night and ate dinner and just played games.
Santa Barbara Coast

Carolyn and I at Santa Barbara

Monday morning we went through a tour of Hearst Castle. It was amazing. There was a beautiful view of the ocean and the house was astounding. The guest house was better than any house I'll ever live in. We also watched a movie on the building of Hearst Castle. It was amazing to see the vision that Hearst had and that he was able to see it into action. It made me contemplate what my vision for my life is and how I can accomplish that. Good thoughts for a new year.

Tapestry on the wall

View from Hearst Castle

I wish I had tennis courts like this in my back yard!

The "Roman Bath" pool

The piano that is used to play the bells in the tower below.

Photograph of Hearst Castle

Beautiful outdoor pool

Nate, Carolyn, and Dad standing by the indoor pool

Bedroom

Hearst Castle from the side

Guest House

Front Doors

David showing how happy he was to be there.

Ceiling panels