Goodbye Rodger Swan

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Many of those reading this probably don’t know who Rodger Swan is or what he did. I can’t say that I knew him personally and I know I never will. Unfortunately he died rather suddenly yesterday. What I can tell you is that he was a teacher working for the JET program in Japan (its a teacher exchange program where foreign teachers go and teach in Japan). He was also a you tuber (someone who posts videos on youtube). Nothing really special I guess, but what stuck out to me is that he had a dream and through his videos you could see that he was accomplishing that dream (that to me is very extraordinary). It is also interesting to me that in this day a person who I have never met, nor who knows me, can have an effect on me, but it does. Technology is a weird thing and it interesting to see how it can shape our interactions with people. Anyhow, I just wanted to say goodbye to Mr. Swan and offer my condolences to his family. If you get the chance I would encourage to go to youtube and check out his videos:

www.youtube.com/rodgerswan

Casa Grande National Monument

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It has taken me awhile to edit the video for this place, but I think I have it to the level of “one notch above horrible.”
Anyhow, one of the other things we did on our way home from our last trip to Arizona was to go to Casa Grande National Monument. Casa Grande is a place that leaves the visitor with lots of questions. Normally, when you think of Ancient Native American habitations in Arizona you think of cliff dwellings, but this monument is an exception to the rule. Set right in the middle of the town of Coolidge, Arizona, Casa Grande National Monument shows a different type of Ancient Native American dwelling. Most likely built 1000 BCE, this building has two features that immediately jumped out at me. First of all, it is a huge complex for being out in the desert. How many people lived here? Why did they choose to live so far away from the river? How did they live so far away from the river? The answer to that last question is that these people had learned how to (on their own), build a very immense aqueduct system to this very remote flat land. The second feature that struck me is that it looks like Casa Grande was a two (or maybe even three) story structure. No other Native American structures in this area are that big. How did they do it and why?
I am sure if you visit this place you will have a lot of your own unanswered questions, but you’ll also have lots of fun imagining your own answers.

Oh, and if you are wondering what happened to AJ’s soda I figured it out:

If you are interested in seeing what other people are doing for their family trips one blog I would suggest is : www.motherofalltrips.com

How Cold Was It?

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People often ask me after a storm “So, How Cold Was It?” This is a hard thing to convey to the rest of my Southern Californian friends. I can’t blame them, snow is not really something we see too often in Southern California. Being a mountain dwelling Southern Californian I get to see the snow every year. Unfortunately, we had to go to court on Friday (stupid Red Light Ticket…) and with the weather we didn’t want to risk getting stuck at home (thus being in contempt of court), so my mom graciously hosted us for two days. When we did get back home however, this is what we saw:

Now, I am sure if you are from most of Southern California you will look at this video and say to yourself, “I would never want to live in that.” This would be valid, but before you judge our situation too harshly I give you this picture:

This picture was take about an hour after I had been shoveling out our driveway. Several enterprising teenagers had come by while I was shoveling and had offered to help, but when I told them that I only had $10 in the house, they left rather quickly. So while I was shoveling this man in the Bobcat comes up to my house. I look at him and I tell him “Sorry, I only have $10.” (the going rate for Bobcats is like $40). He looks at the driveway he says “whatever” and proceeds to dig out an ample space for my car in less than 5 minutes (thus saving me about 3 hours of work). While he is doing this I tell Denise to get my $10 dollars, but before Denise comes back the guy goes away. This is why I live in Crestline. You may have some good neighbors, but I have great ones. Oh and just so you don’t think I am a bad neighbor, an hour later when the road scrapper came by I went with my shovel and helped a different neighbor dig out his truck.

PS Don’t come and visit us for a few days because CHP just announced that our mountain roads are closed to any visitors.

Free Days at the LACMA

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Yesterday was a free day at the LACMA (most holiday Mondays are free). We met up with my sister-in-law Erica and my niece Harper and went a saw what there was to see. It was a rainy day, but being an Art museum it was good because it was all inside. This did not however, stop AJ from tossing his jacket aside and going puddle jumping:

As far as the exhibits go, it was interesting. We saw a new Korean and Indian Comic exhibit:

The Indian Spiderman was really interesting:

We also got to see the Japanese Art wing, which was a personal first:

A Walk Around Crestline, California

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This week we are supposed to get a big storm, but yesterday was a beautiful day in Crestline. It was sunny with just a slight breeze. I didn’t have anything planned until the afternoon, but I knew it was too good of a day to waste inside. So off I went for walk. In total almost all around town, being a town however that isn’t very far. In total from Top Town, down the strip, and around Lake Gregory I estimate I walked about 5 miles. Denise and AJ came for two miles of it and then ditched me. It was such a beautiful day that I felt I could just keep walking on forever. Unfortunately, I had some things to do in the afternoon so I had to go home, but it was fun while it lasted. Here are two videos I made of the walk. The first one is of the town of Crestline and the second one is walking around Lake Gregory. Hope you enjoy them:

Disneyland’s Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln… and AJ Too!

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Today was my flex day and Denise had taken a sub. job so it was just me and AJ today. I had been home all weekend and had no desire to stay at home so AJ and I went to Disneyland. One of the benefits of having a pass is that you can go to the park for just a few hours and not feel like you wasted your money.
It was a fun few hours, we did a handful of attractions, but the main one I wanted to see was the newly re-opened Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. Recently restored, the Main Street Opera House and Bank is now home to three different attractions. The first thing is that they have redone the Main Street Bank and it is now home to the Disney Gallery. Here you can see many different Disneyland inspired art displays. The second part is the Disneyland Story. Here you can see the bench where Walt Disney first thought up Disneyland, some original sketches and models, and a little musuem about the history of the park. Going on further you get into the Lincoln exhibit. You watch a short preview film of the original voice of Lincoln and head to the theater for your encounter with Mr. Lincoln himself. After the presentation, you go into the Spirit of America hallway where you see portraits of influential Americans such as John F. Kennedy, Elvis Presley, Martin Luther King, and Hanna Montana(not really sure why she is there). In all it was a fun day with AJ and we really enjoyed our Dole Whip:
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Saguaro National Park

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I am slowly working on editing my pictures and videos from our trip to Arizona. When we were in Arizona in December we stayed in Sahuarita, Arizona which is just south of Tucson, Arizona. Being so close to Tucson, Arizona we really wanted to make an effort to visit Saguaro National Park. To our surprise Saguaro National Park is actually two parks (East and West). Stopping first at the Waffle House:

We then proceeded to go on AZ-86 towards Saguaro National Park West. In route we passed right through Tucson Mountain Park (a Arizona State Park). While at Saguaro Park West we took some time at the visitor center called the Red Hills Visitor center and then proceeded on a bumpy, dusty, dirt road to go look at miles of Saguaro and find the trailhead for Signal Peak. A short hike up Signal Peak we got to see some very interesting petro glyphs (at least I thought they were interesting, Denise called them “ancient graffiti”).

On the way we stopped at the Sonoma Desert Museum. The Sonoma Desert Museum cost $15 per person to get in, but it is really more of a zoo than a museum. Luckily for us the museum’s most valuable asset, the crested saguaro, is completely free. No one knows really why it happens, but one in every 200,000 Saguaros instead of branching out all the sudden forms a crest-like formation. Right at the entrance of the Sonoma Desert Museum they just happen to have one, and since the museum doesn’t charge for parking we got to see it for free. After looking at the Crested Saguaro we briefly stopped at Old Tucson Studios. A working film studio, it is mostly an amusement park. It cost $18 dollars per person and since we have Universal Studios at home we skipped it, but I did manage to get a few pictures from outside the wall. After that we headed back into Tucson and slowly made our way to Saguaro National Park East. Just so you know, the distance between the East and West park are about 40 miles. While in Tucson we admired the different buildings, including the Mosque that was very beautiful, but definitely looked out of place. We also drove a little through Arizona State’s campus. After a few miles and some windy roads we finally got to Saguaro National Park East.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time so we only briefly looked around and watched the little video in the visitor center. According to the video however there looks to be a very interesting homestead you can tour.
Well, that was our day visiting Saguaro National Park. It was fun. As far as time goes I don’t think you can do everything in one day, but if you are like us, you can definitely hit at least the highlights in a day. Admission to the two parks was included with our National Parks Pass, but would have otherwise cost us $10 dollars.
In other news, this week we didn’t do much. We have finally gotten over giving various flu bugs to each other and so there may be hope for a Disneyland trip on Monday. In local news “Curly” Jim Musgrave passed away. He apparently was well known in the local Country music scene. I didn’t really know him however as a Country music singer, just as a member of our Crestline Ward. Anyhow, as Relief Society President Denise was quickly put to the task of providing dinner for the family. [paypal-donation]

Chiriaco Summit

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Happy New Year! Unfortunately, I got sick on New Years and so I haven’t been able to finish editing all my pictures and videos from our recent trip to Arizona. I usually like to blog about the places we visit in chronological order, but I am just going to have to do it by location.
One video that I managed to edit before I got sick was a little video about Chiriaco Summit. On the way back from Arizona we stopped at Chiriaco Summit. It is a very little town, but very interesting nonetheless. Here is a little video of the place:

San Xavier del Bac Mission

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Mission San Xavier, Tucson ArizonaThe mission was started by a Jesuit priest named Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, who first came to the area in 1692. The present day church was built from 1783-1797. A beautiful white mission style church this church lives up to its colloquial name of the “white dove.”
Located right off interstate 19 (click here for Map), the mission is only 14 miles south of Tucson, AZ. It makes for a good short rest stop, which for us, was just what we needed.

The mission is open every day of the year from 8:00-5:00PM. Admission is free (donations always welcome) and you can explore the wonderfully decorated chapel and museum.
Indian Saint
To the side of the mission there is a little hill to climb where you can see a little grotto.
Denise and AJ at the Grotto
After walking back down from the grotto we tried some fry bread ($2.00 plain, $2.50 cinnamon sugar, $5.00 for “everything”).
Indian Fry Bread
There is also a little Arts and Crafts center, but both times we have been there hasn’t been many shops open (maybe there are more people there on weekends?).
San Xavier Crafts

After the mission we went to the Subway in Sahuarita, AZ and took some family pictures…
Brent's got the cool stuff.Subway

AJ at Two

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So, since AJ had his second birthday on Sunday, it’s a good time to record some of his favorites and talents.

Favorite Foods:
Fruit in Season (grapes, apples, and right now tangerines) also bananas–which as far as I know have no season. He also loves, ritz crackers, graham crackers, animal crackers, bread of all types, yogurt, peanut butter (but strangely not jam), gummy fruit snacks, cheese (like string cheese and quesadillas), and of course, sweets of all types.

Whats not on the list? Meat of all types. Once in a while he’ll eat of few bites of chicken or beef, but most of his protein is peanut butter.

Favorite games or toys:
Cars and trucks, any thing that spins, buttons he can press (especially on the computer), and especially if pressing those buttons makes noise! He also enjoys “racing”. For one, he runs laps in the house–which he is doing right now. And then, when we’re walking together he’ll stop and let me get ahead, then yell something that sounds a little like go. Then he buzzes on past me with a smile on his face. One last thing that AJ enjoys is drawing, not so much coloring in the lines as putting squiggly lines all over the place on a blank piece of paper.

Skills:
His vocabulary currently consists of: Please, Thank You, Up, cracker, down, ball, balloon, night night, amen, and shoe. He understands lots more of course. He can obey when I ask him to bring something to Poppi, or when I ask him to throw something in the trash. He also folds his arms when told it’s prayer time. Who knows what else he understands. (That thought is a little scary.)

In general he’s a go along, get along kind of guy. Very easy going, as long as he’s been fed and has the ability to wiggle. Thankfully, he tolerates the car seat very well. He can’t sit still in church, but he will sit in his car seat for two to three hours at a time. He goes easily to strangers, and usually goes down easily for a nap or at night. Which brings me to the point that he still naps, usually 3 hours a day.

He was not a very cuddly baby, but he now loves giving hugs and kisses. AJ is also a little mimic, copying every thing he sees, especially other kids. He has sat still for exactly one Sacrament Meeting in the past 6 months, the children’s sacrament program. He was fascinated by all the kids on the stage, and didn’t take his eyes off of them.

So, that’s my sweet happy boy. John will put up some birthday pictures later, but those are my word pictures.