im⋅ag⋅i⋅na⋅tion [i-maj-uh-ney-shuhn]

As a child our imagination almost took over our minds. It caused us to believe that any one of our stuffed animals could come alive at any moment. We had super magical powers that would allow us to have super strength, or dissappear at will. Thunder was an untamed beast that only came out when it rained. (To calm my fears Mom used to tell me that it was just the people up in heaven playing a really good game of bowling, "STRIKE".)
We could no more get rid of our imaginary friends than our parents. They were a part of who we were.
As we grow older we tend to forget the large hairy monster under our bed, the beautiful fairies that accompanied us in our sleep, and our adventures with the pirates on the great ocean that lied between the couches in our living room.
When did it happen? When did I lose that little girl who danced freely to the music in her head. The one who sang "Part of Your World" just because it was fun. The one who allowed herself to be herself even when people were watching.
I've become a boring adult in need of a child with an imagination! This week I'm going to become Siebel in the opera "Faust",and Orfeo in "Orfeo Ed Euridice"
I'm going to dance to the music in my head and sing for fun!
So let yourself go this week....see where your imagination takes you!

Rain

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain on my window. It's funny how something so small could put a smile on my face. I got up out of bed and pulled the blinds so that I could watch as it ran down the window. I must have laid here and watched for hours.

Take A Trip To The Zoo With Us!

Paul and I went to the zoo a couple weeks ago. I probably picked the worst day to go but Paul stuck it out for me. We were both wiping the sweat from our faces all day. We lost more water than we drank, and were hardly prepared for one of the hottest days of the year. I think Paul was wishing the I had chose to go the the Blue Bell factory....indoors with a cup of ice cream in our hand! I figured because it had rained earlier that it would stay pretty cloudy but the sun came out right as we got there and it was blazing the rest of the day. We had a really great time though...and here is my proof.

Isn't he the cutest!


Meercat


Just born a couple days before...big baby!


Then there were the sea lions...


Aligator...he was a little lazy that day.


Big....lizard thing


little turtle


Elephant


I don't know what this is!


Massive cows...can you say neck ache!


lazy lepoard


The monkeys were our favorite!




These are the only ones that I could get of the big cats. They were staying in the cool areas.




Paul...Doesn't he look harmless?


We're glad you took time out of your day to go to the zoo with us.

Surfin USA

Today we decided to spend some time in Galveston. On the way to the beach we noticed a couple boats just randomly hanging out. They really cleaned up after the hurricane, but there are still a few owners that haven't claimed their boats from the sides of the highway. In some cases it's surprising to see what some people are still living in.
On the way we also had the opportunity to see the Bishop's palace from our car window. It's a massive house in the middle of Galveston that a bishop used to live in. Now they have opened it to the public for tours. We didn't want to pay 10$ a person to see a largely overrated house so we took the view from our car.


By far our favorite part of our adventure was getting to the beach!!


At Kim's request we made her a truck. Here's your Ford Kim! I would have painted it but I didn't have time.




I told Paul that we couldn't leave the beach without me burying him in the sand. He didn't like that idea much, so we took a picture of the sand.


We saw dolphins, jumping fish, and crazy pelicans...I would say it was a successful trip!

Life is a Highway

This last week Paul and I hit the road for the longest road trip I have ever taken, and finally made it here to Texas on Saturday. It may have been long and painful but we did have a lot of fun, and at times were very entertained. We love Texas! Here are some pictures of the trip!

There's always one person who has to go 20 miles and hour less than everyone else. Had to document our first traffic jam.


I just have to wonder who the poor sap is that had to put telephone poles in out in the middle of no where.


Random mounds all over near Lake Powell


Beautiful Southern Utah




On the road again


Colorado's Farmers


The New Mexico sunset


Chimney Rock


In New Mexico we stopped to eat and ran into Route 66!


"She likes me for my body!"


More Route 66








Our first look at Texas


I thought this was funny. Those Pecans must be real good.


Dallas


Definitely in Texas!


Maybe someday we will get there....Texas is massive!

Summer Nights

Over the last few weeks Paul and I have been enjoying our summer with each other. It has been the first time in two years that we have taken a break from school. Blogging has taken a back seat and we have spent every waking hour making the best of our summer. As Paul takes this time to recover his sleep from the last trip I figured I would start catching everyone up on the past few weeks.
A couple weeks ago we took a trip with Paul's parents to Salt Lake. There are a few random things that I wanted to see that I had never seen while passing through. First on our list was the cemetery.

Day 1

Among many others we visited the grave site of Porter Rockwell. He has always been one of my heroes. In the past I have been completely and utterly against graveyards; I had this phobia of walking over dead bodies when I was younger. I'm not going to lie and tell you that I am completely over that, but I will tell you that it was easier for me to connect with these people by being there at the cemetery.

Later we went to "This is the Place State Park" which I didn't even know existed before Paul's parents came along. I didn't take a lot of pictures while we were there but it was pretty cool to see things that were owned by the pioneers.





My favorite part was probably being able to see these quilts that were hundreds of years old. I couldn't get Paul to understand why someone would make the time to painfully sew something so intricate by hand. I only took a few pictures but they were all beautiful.








History has always been really intriguing to me so it was fun to make a connection with these people who made such a sacrifice to settle the Salt Lake Valley.

Day 2 to be continued at a later date.

Our Money Pit

I have to say that I am very familiar with a vehicle being an endless problem. I currently drive a 1984 pickup which has fewer things right with it than wrong. But that's not what I'm writing about. (I also had to deal with an Isuzu Rodeo when I got married, but that's another book that will never be written. I still twitch at night when I think about it.)
Recently I read a post on my sister-in-laws blog about a recent tire escapade and I laughed pretty hard. I too have sunk what seems like an endless amount of money into our "new" car. First of all, last winter was like driving on an ice rink with the "high performance all season tires" that it had. Yeah, lies. So we decided to get some soft composite winter tires. But hey, if your going to pay for mounting, balancing, dismounting, and re-balancing for every season you might as well buy a new set of rims. Right? They'll pay for themselves. That felt pretty good on the debit card.
So the winter goes by great. We put our "high performance all season tires" with our new rims on the car for summer driving. Low and behold, the tire bands had broken apart and were waiting for a pot hole to have a catastrophic failure (see picture above). I didn't want my wife to have that much excitement in her day, so I decided to go and see what it would take to get some new tires. Well as it turns out, it was only really bad on one tire, and since you can't just replace one when the others are half gone (yeah, you would think a tire should last a little longer that half it's life. However, the previous owner didn't see fit to grace us with the warranty on the said "high perfo....junk tires"). I didn't strike a gold mine in the back yard of my rental apartment over the winter, so I still was in the condition I was and the beginning of the winter, poor. Only more poor. So what does a guy do. I still didn't want my wife to have that much excitement on her way to school so I busted out my beaten debit card and only bought two new tires. Yes, the front are bad, but I have to put that on in the hands of the Lord. We are trying desperately to make it to the end of the summer to my internship. If we can just get there alive I will be so, oh so happy.
All you people out there battling with the preserve my life vs. fix my car...I feel your pain. If it were my car, I wouldn't care. I suck CO (carbon monoxide) from my broken exhaust on my truck to prove it. But that's another story. I hope I don't get too much brain damage. I try and drive with the window down. Winter was tough. My heater doesn't work either.
Paul