Tonga creatures

While driving around there was never a time where we didn't see pigs, kids, or dogs. They are everywhere. And, thankfully, not one of them came in contact with the car.

The first picture you see is of pigs. I want to say they were cute, but they were just so wimpy looking. I never really saw a big, fat pig. The roasted pigs at the feasts were probably not more than 80 pounds.

The second picture is of spiders who have made their webs in power lines. These spiders are huge. Luckily I never saw one up close.

The final picture is of flying foxes, AKA bats. Creepy. One night we were out they were flying around. Pretty big.

I'll later post a picture of one of the cockroaches found in Sarah's room. I never had a cockroach in my room.

Tonga Travels

I have talked with so many people about Tonga, I guess it is time to post something. I will be getting more pictures this week, but here are a couple to quench your thirst of the South Seas.

The first picture is of the temple.

The second picture is taken of the beach where a stake president owns 700 acres. This was where we had a feast and later that evening a baptism of a mother and her 4 girls was held in the ocean. This was a beautiful sight.

The next picture is of some blowholes. Again, I love the color of the water coming in. It really did look like this.

Then you see an aerial view. I don't know what island, but I love the colors you see. It is so beautiful.

Mom and Dad's New Wheels!!!

I told you all that I would post a picture of mom and dad with their new car. Sorry it took me so long to get it on here! Don't they look so good by their new SUV!!! :)



These are the best pictures to show off the car, I know mom and dad got better pictures on their camera!

We're Blazing New Trails!!!

We tried getting some pictures that we took this weekend downloaded and it just didn't quite work. There was one picture that we really wanted to put on here to show everyone, and we told you all that we would be posting.

So when Simon and I got home this weekend, we noticed a few things that were different. There are some things in the yard that have changed, thanks to dad's hard work. But we noticed something that was quite a new addition! We didn't see the nice brown Impala sitting in the driveway, but something much more showy! A new silver Chevy Trailblazer! Before we pulled in the driveway, I was thinking that it might be Brent and Julie's, but when we pulled around, we noticed that the license plates said 4C-30. So of course mom came out the second we pulled in and confirmed that it was theirs and that it was only a couple hours old. So I just thought I needed to ask mom something. I said, "So, what happened to the car?" (I was just thinking about the past cars and wanted to make sure that no accident happened and that everyone was okay.) She first laughed and then said, "Well, funny thing, we bought a new car because we 'wanted' a new car!" So that is the story! They got a 2007 Silver Chevy Trailblazer, seats 5 on luxurious leather seats, Onstar equipped, phone equipped, memory driver seating, front seat warmers, and everything else for a nice ride! Here is a picture of what it looks like! I will post the real pictures of mom and dad doing the new car jump by their new set of wheels! They are leaving this week to cruise the scenic byways of Northern Idaho in their fancy new car! (oops, mom just corrected me, fancy new SUV!!!!!)

Timber!

I have yet to have seen anything big topple from all the work going on across the street. So, it was a real treat on Friday to stand in the front staircase with many of my coworkers and see a corner, probably an elevator shaft or staircase, fall. The big orange machine undercut the bottom portion of the southwest side and corner with a wrecking ball, then hit it with the machine's bucket. Pretty soon it fell to its side, into a cavity just waiting for the debris. Here's the link to the photos one of our photogs took. Pretty cool!

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695214171,00.html

Heart Warming Quilts

The results are in!!!! Here are Mom's quilts she entered in the Fair. She had the buzz going with her award winning quilts!

Dad's Fancy Boots

I don't know if everyone has seen dad's new fancy boots, but I was looking through my pictures and thought this was a nice one to show off the boots. His outfit was even color coordinated with the boots! NICE!!!

Pink Rodeo

Thought I better post a picture of something from the Friday night pink rodeo. It's pretty much the only decent picture I have. And, of course it is of dad!

Bad link

It looks like the link won't work for accessing the video. Let's try it again: deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,5143,695202066,00.html

Key Bank Tower gone!

A lot has happened the past few weeks in the downtown construction zone. Of course, the big news last weekend was the implosion of the Key Bank tower. You can view the video from this link: http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,5143,695202066,00.html

I took a before and after so you can see the view from my office. I didn't think it would be much different, but it is.

They say it will take about a year for all the buildings to come down. Oh boy!

Minneapolis Moline - ZAN

Here are a few pictures of Dad's latest project!!!








It is a Minneapolis Moline and the Model is a ZAN.



It looks like Kell and Brogan will now have bigger tractors to compete for!!!

Watering the Lawns

So here are a couple more pictures from the storm two nights ago. Dad, you might think this looks like we are just watering our lawns, but we don't do it like you do at home.

Mall deconstruction

This is an update of what is happening across the street. They started tearing away at the building that is next to the ZCMI Mall. It has been fascinating to watch them systematically take things down. As I said before, some material is being recycled. So sometimes the machines would go through the rubble, trying to find the material they needed to keep. Talk about finding a needle in a haystack. We have been waiting for the satellite dish and small building atop the roof to fall. It will probably happen on Saturday when no one is around to witness it. The orange machine looks a little like a long-necked dinosaur. What do you think? Can you see it's eyes and mouth? While it's given me great fun this week, the rest of the 8th floor and most of the building think so to. And people walking down the sidewalk in front of our building can't help but stand and look at what is happening. It will be a grand 5 years.

Pioneer Day 5K Walk

We continued our tradtion of the 5K walk to Liberty Park. We finished in 47 minutes. We are sooooooo fast.

Harry Potter

I did stay up late last night, but not to read the book. Just hung out with Sarah Weaver, her two girls, and her niece. We went to Border's and watched the many people waiting the midnight release of the book. Mostly adults! It was crazy. I will be reading the book as soon as Sarah is done. Probably next week.

Mall Construction

This week construction or destruction started on the ZCMI Mall. It has been closed for probably a month or so. On Tuesday the entrance, which I can see from my building, started to come down. The big machine (don't know what it's called) would break the glass then tear away the other material. Most of the materials are being recycled! It's a little depressing to see it all go away. And more depressing when I think of the 5 years it will be under construction. But how much it will be to see it come together. I'll post pictures every now and then.

Here's one to give you an idea. Not much to look at yet.

Marnell

I just posted the link to Marnell's blog. Thought everyone would like to see what they are up to.

Marnell

I just posted the link to Marnell's post. Thought everyone would like to see what they are up to.

Kiss Me Kate

The Osthed's and I went to Orem last night to see Scott in his latest creative part. He was awesome. Who knew he could sing and dance so well.

Hola!

Well, I guess this means we get a chance to brag about our kids (clean them up a bit) and try to make up something exciting about our lives.

David started the ball rolling with his blog. So here is the debut of the B&V Bunch blog. Happy posting!