Picasso Paisley

Today we had painting day. I painted a bunch of bowling pins for an upcoming craft and Paisley painted some art for her bedroom. She loved to paint and I will have to get some water colors so we can do this more often. She enjoyed making her own bedroom decorations and is very proud of the end result. We will frame it and hang it in the next couple weeks and be sure to include a picture of my little Picasso's finished piece of art.

Can you say OUCH?

The ward had their AP/YW beach day Saturday while we were in Park City. They went and I had counciled Jon and Cait to LOTION UP. Both of them have been on the receiving end of second degree burns before and I have bought heavy duty lotion. Its a sunblock forget tanning for the two of them. SPF 70!! Caitlin didn't get her chest to well and got abit of sun there but thankfully NO BLISTERS. Jon lotioned everywhere but the tops of his feets!!!!! I am posting the picture of them. I want you to keep in mind that I took the picture today, that means Thursday, FIVE DAYS after he was burned. You can see on his left foot the yellow crustys from the popped blisters. We kept him home from school on Mon, Tues and Wed, but he had to go back today, he was just going to be to far behind. The picture makes me want to cry. I did all I could, but I still cringe to look at it and to know how he must have suffered and still is in fact uncomfortable as the swelling isn't all gone. Sigh.

Headed to Texas

Many of you know that I have looked at jobs in Texas for years because of the cost of living, but I haven't actually ever been to Dallas or Austin for that matter which is where I have been looking. So, Jen and I are taking a long weekend this weekend and are flying to Texas to see if we like the area and to look at houses.  We won't be buying one, but we want to see if we like the area before we flood it with resumes.  We fly out today and will be back Tuesday night.  I hope you all have a nice long weekend yourselves.

Layne and Jen 

New Time of Life for Us

This is James and his friend Brittany. We had an opportunity while in Utah for my marathon to visit with James and meet her. She was very nice. The bad news, her missionary just returned this past Wednesday and she returned to Logan for school yesterday. Its a new chapter for us now that we have children (seems odd calling James a child when he is a man but he is our child) that are of a marrying age. The choices our children make in spouses is HUGE. Its their eternal happiness and the future of our yet unborn grandchildren. Families are also influenced by the infusion of new blood for bad or good. We don't have much of a say, we can only sit back and hope that all that we have taught and lived is now embraced by our children and used in order that they might have happiness like we have.

We love you James!!

Shelley is running St George

Being the humble runner that she is, I thought I would let you know that she is in for St George this year (I wield just a little bit of power, very little). She ran a 20 miler yesterday in 3:15. She is running smooth, fast and strong. This is her year. Sub 4 here we come!!!

Happy Birthday, Dad!!

For your birthday, I'm giving you the largest diamond in the world. It's called the Cullinan Diamond, named after the owner of the mine in South Africa where it was found. A supervisor of the mine was walking around and saw it and picked it up. It weighed 1.3 pounds, or 3,106 carats. There was an imperfection in the middle of the diamond that threatened to shatter the whole thing if it was not properly handled, so the decision was made to cut it into "smaller" stones.

This first stone, the largest of nine cut from the original diamond, is called Cullinan I, the Star of Africa and is in the old Royal Scepter for Africa.



The next largest, Cullinan II, is set in the British Imperial Crown of State. As a side note, the stone above it is a brilliant ruby called the Black Prince Ruby. The Black Prince was the eldest son of Edward III of England, and was acquired in the late 1300's during the Invasion of France. The Black Prince had taken hostage an important Frenchman who gave him the stone as ransom for his release. The Black Prince did not survive the Invasion, due to illness, of all things, so the crown went to Richard II, and thus the seeds were sown for the Wars of the Roses.



Cullinan III and Cullian IV (top to bottom) are set as a necklace and are part of the British Crown Jewels. South Africa was a British colony at the time, so all the good stuff made it back to England. Queen Elizabeth II will wear this on occasion.



She will also wear a brooch from Cullinan VI and Cullinan VIII.




WARNING:

1. Diamonds will shatter if struck with a hammer. Diamonds are 58 times stronger than the next heaviest mineral, but are brittle.

2. If a diamond is put into an oven and heated to 763 degrees Celsius (1405 degrees Fahrenheit), it will simply vanish, without even ash remaining. Only a little carbon dioxide will have been released.


Happy birthday!!

Happy Birthday, Brad

I wasn't sure what to get for you, but then I decided on something I like, which is birds. I can't have any because of my allergies, and I'm certain your dear mother would have an opinion about that, also, so I settled on outside pets. In order for you to garner the awe and respect that you deserve from your school friends, I give you the world's largest and the world's birds. I'll leave it to you to decide which one is which.








The male ostrich from Africa can rise up to 9 feet tall, which is I believe to be about where the bottom of a basketball net is, and can weigh 345 lbs, a weight that your Uncle Lew was approaching until recently.

The bee humming bird comes from Cuba. It is 2.5 inches in length and weighs .06 ounces. That means that for every one ostrich, you can get 92,000 bee humming birds. I would suggest that this far exceeds the total number of such hummingbirds in the their habitat, and thus the entire world.

I know of a couple restaurants that sell ostrich meat hamburgers. An ordinary herbal tea bag weighs more and is larger than this hummingbird. Excellent food for those us on a low carb diet.

Have an enjoyable day!