First Snow of the Season

What a big change in the weather.....yesterday the high temperature was in the upper 80's and today it was barely 50. It was cold enough that it snowed in the mountains and covered many of the autumn leaves. Hopefully the warmer temperatures will return. I'm just not ready for winter!

Lindsey and Kyle

Tonight was Lindsey Watson and Kyle Dewey's wedding reception. The reception was held in the Joseph Smith Building's Ambassador room, which is the room at the top of the Joseph Smith Building that has views of the city on 3 sides and overlooks the temple and church office buildings.

Lindsey is one of my former Young Women. She and her family are very special to me. I had the opportunity of teaching 3 of Lindsey's siblings (Jason, Trevor, and Amy) at Bountiful Elementary and serving with her mother, Jolene, in the Relief Society Presidency in the Bountiful 7th Ward. Another one of Lindsey's siblings, Holly, was also in Young Women's with me. Lindsey comes from a family of 12 children.

Lindsey's dad, F. Michael Watson, is a member of the First Quorum of the Seventies for the LDS church and he and Jolene are currently serving in the Johannesburg South Africa Mission Presidency. Elder Watson's former callings/jobs were serving as secretary to the Quorum of the 12 Apostles (1970-1972), serving as the assistant secretary to the First Presidency from 1972-1986 and as the secretary to the First Presidency from 1986-2008. He served with the following LDS Church Presidents: Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Howard W. Hunter, and Gordon B. Hinckley. This is a picture of Elder Watson and his wife, Jolene.

Old Spaghetti Factory

Every six months, my former roommate, Sonda Smith Martin, and I get together for dinner and celebrate our birthdays. This month, of course, was my birthday celebration and in March it will be Sonda's. It's kind of nice having our birthdays six months apart so that we can stay in contact and catch up with each other's lives at least twice a year. Tonight we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory, one of my favorite places to go for Italian Food. I had the "Manager's Favorite" which consisted of spaghetti with marinara and mizithra cheese with brown butter.

Praying Mantis

Look at those eyes!!! I'm not sure this praying mantis liked the closeness of the camera, but nevertheless, he continued to keep his composure held together for the picture.

Zach's broken arm

Last week Zach and Tyler were playing "tag" (which is not a good game in my family since Wendy broke her leg playing tag a few years ago) and as luck would have it, Zach fell and continued the tradition. He broke his arm. These pictures are of Zach sitting in the spot where the accident occured.

Dandelion Puff Ball

When a yellow dandelion matures it turns into a puff ball. The white fuzz is attached to individual seeds and it acts like a parachute. When the wind catches it, the seed can be carried great distances. In this picture I like the way the light is hitting the white fuzz and highlights each of the delicate strands!

My Shadow

Tonight as I went for a walk, I had a lot of fun playing with my shadow.

Dine O'Round

This month is the "Dine O'Round" in Salt Lake. This is where several of the local restaurants will offer a three course dinner for $15 or $30, depending on the location. It is a great way to try out different restaurants for a pretty reasonable price. The Dine O'Round typically lasts 4 weeks and occurs twice a year, in the Spring and in the Fall.

Tonight's restaurant pick for the Dine O'Round was Red Rock. I went with some of my coworkers (Joanna and Carol, my former co-worker, Vanessa, and 3 teachers from the school where Vanessa is currently working). My 3 course meal consisted of the house salad, chicken schnitzel with mashed potatoes and snow peas, and New York Style cheesecake. The meal was terrific and the company was fabulous!!!

Frozen Custard

When you want a good milkshake, Nielsen's Frozen Custard is one of the best places to go. The definition of frozen custard is.. "a super premium ice cream very similar to homemade ice cream. It has some egg in it, which provides a smooth texture. Frozen custard also has less air content than other ice cream. This makes it heavier, fresher, and therefore, weighs a lot more than most other ice creams."

Tonight I took my friend and one of my former "young women," Lindsey Watson, to Nielsen's to celebrate our birthdays. Lindsey's birthday is just 4 days after mine, and ever since Lindsey was in Young Women's we have been celebrating our birthday month by going out for ice cream. The only year we missed was two years ago when Lindsey was serving a mission in England. (I should have gone to England and still taken her for ice cream!) Hopefully we will continue this tradition for a long time!

My favorite running companion

An iPod is one of the most essential items to have with you when running. I love listening to music, but sometimes a good podcast will also do. Tonight I ran a 5K and beat my time by an entire minute. AWESOME!!!

Perfect weather

Today was a perfect fall day...temperatures in the upper 70s, mostly sunny skies, and no wind as you can see in the picture above.

Utah State Fair

Tonight I went to the State Fair and had a great time "playing" with the aperture and shutter settings on my camera. I wanted to try to capture the motion, but still have some parts of the picture clear and in focus. These pictures were taken in Shutter Priority mode with an f/20 setting. I also used a tripod and a remote.

One fish, two fish...

Many people who have come into the computer lab where I work have commented on these goldfish. They are huge and are probably about 5-6 years old! The fish tank is also unique. It is a Mac Aquarium (a Macintosh computer that has been converted into a fish tank.) Since we are a "Windows" platform district, the fish tank has received lots of attention :)

These shoes were made for walking...

These shoes have been my favorite pair of shoes this summer. The brand is Privo Acacia by Clark and I ordered them from Zappos.com. They are very comfy! I have walked many steps in these shoes over the past 4 months.

Farmington City Historical Museum and Old Metal Heads

This building was originally built in 1907 and became the first LDS Stake President's Office for Davis County. (In 1907 there was just one LDS stake for all of Davis County and they wanted the Stake President's office to be centrally located. The Stake President lived in Woods Cross, about 8 miles south of Farmington.) In 1915, The Davis Stake was divided into two stakes and the building was no longer needed by the church. The property was then put up for sale and in 1917 it became Farmington City Hall. In 1970, Farmington City moved their offices into a a new building to the north and the building was then leased by the Farmington Lion's Club until 2004. On July 9, 2004, it became the Farmington City Historical Museum.

Today while I was at work, I took a break and walked through the museum. (The museum sits on the block north of the where I work.) The museum contained lots of old and very interesting artifacts and history of Farmington and Davis County.

One of the artifacts I saw inside of this museum that I found rather interesting were these Old Metal Head statues. These metal heads were made by Melville G. Held, Sr. (1904-1981) in 1964-65 and the interesting part is that they were made from old car parts. Some of the parts came from a 1929 Model A Ford, 1948 Mercury, 1941 Chevrolet, 1939 Plymouth, 1949 Kaiser, 1946 Ford, 1951 Henry J, 1953 Oldsmobile, 1949 Pontiac, and a 1939 Chrysler. To get an idea about how large the heads are, notice the old gas cans in the bottom left corner.

Interesting Farmington Architecture

Every month, the Farmington City newsletter posts a picture of some sort of art or architecture that can be found somewhere in Farmington. This silo was the architecture that was featured for September. I find it interesting that a full grown tree sits on top of the silo. That's not something you typically see every day.

Pickett Fence and Arbor

This pickett fence, arbor and gate can be found along Main Street in Farmington. Unfortunately, though, the entrance leads to a yard that has become very overgrown over the past several years. In the background, believe it or not, there is also a house that is hardly noticeable and people do live in it.

Favorite Vegetable

I love corn-on-the-cob! Corn is probably the vegetable that I love the most and when it is still on the cob, it is even better. I just hate how it gets in my teeth :)

Mushroom Macro

As I was walking along tonight, I noticed this mushroom sitting in the grass. I had a lot of fun trying to get the perfect macro.

I will always remember...

This picture of the US flag is in honor of September 11th. I will never forget the day the United States of America was attacked and how the freedom I have always taken for granted was threatened. I am so thankful for those in the armed forces that serve our country and help protect us from terrorists. I will never forget how our country came together after the September 11th attacks and became more united (at least for a little while).

Winding Sidewalk

Tonight I took my camera with me on my 3 mile run. This sidewalk is part of my run (however, most of the time I prefer to run on the road vs. the sidewalk except when it is getting dark, then I feel safer on the sidewalk). I like the way this sidewalk curves and winds. The bushes along the fence are always well groomed and taken care of.

09-09-09 and Peggy

Today is 09-09-09 and at 9:09AM I was sitting with these members of my family (Mom, Dad, Grandma Allen, and Peggy) eating waffles for breakfast. This is also the day I drove Peggy back to the airport so she could fly home to her own family in Seattle. It has been a lot of fun having her here the past 5 days!

Sisters and Zach

Tonight Peggy and Wendy and I stopped at Charles' house so Peggy could say goodbye before she leaves and goes back to Seattle tomorrow. I took the picture of Peggy and Zachary and then Zachary used my camera to take a picture of the 3 of us.

Ryan goes to BYU-Idaho

Today Peggy and I drove Ryan to BYU-I where he will be going to one semester of college before leaving on his mission. We had a great day together and were able to get a lot accomplished. I think Ryan is going to have a great time at BYU-I! His roommates were very nice; some returned missionaries, and some pre-mission, and most of them are into sports just like Ryan.

As Peggy and I were leaving Rexburg, we decided to drive by the new Rexburg temple. The sun was setting and the lights on the temple were just coming on. Taking a picture from the front of the temple produced more of a silhoutte of the temple, but as we were leaving, I looked back and captured a completely different view of the temple. The clouds were picking up the pink from the sunset and the sky still had the blue tones. The 2 colors together produced the "cotton-candy" look. It was beautiful!

The Rexburg, Idaho temple was dedicated on February 10, 2008, by President Monson and it is the 3rd temple in Idaho.

My Birthday

Happy 46th Birthday to me!!!! The best part about my birthday this year is that I got to spend it with my family and I get to take a few extra days off work. I also got to have my traditional peach pie...YUM! (Thanks, MOM!)

Mom & Dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary

Tonight my family gathered together in honor of my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. We met at Mom and Dad's house where we watched a video of pictures representing the 50 years that they have been together. After the video, we went to Maddox in Brigham and enjoyed a nice dinner.

One of the big surprises of the evening was when my nephew, Chris, and his wife, Tabitha, and son, Dawson, came walking through the door. Chris is in the military and is currently stationed in Colorado. He was able to get a weekend pass and they drove all night on Thursday so they could be here. It was definitely a nice surprise to see him!

Birthday lunch with co-workers

Today, in honor of my birthday which is coming up on Sunday, I went to lunch with my co-workers...Michele Hinojosa, Carol Nef and Joanna Monson. (Jayna took the day off so she was unable to join us). We went to Chili's. I had potato bacon soup and a salad. It was very good!

My daily addiction

This picture is of a vending machine that sits outside of my office and it represents the drink that I love! DIET COKE (and if I can get it with vanilla, then that is even better)!!!

Awesome Clouds

This week I have been working late trying to put together a video for Mom & Dad's 50th wedding anniversary. On my way out of work tonight, this is what I saw! I thought the clouds looked amazing!!!

Where I Work

Over the past several years this is where I have spent the majority of my time teaching teachers how to use and integrate technology into their classrooms. This training lab consists of 19 lab computers, and 2 teacher computers which are located at the front of the room. Most of the classes I have taught have been limited to 15 teachers so that the teachers could receive more one-on-one training.