YW Warm Fuzzy Service Project

Ilisa

Wynsome

In Young Women's we listened to Pres. Monson's talk on service that he gave in conference. Then we made Warm Fuzzy Jars to encourage us to do more kind acts of service toward our family members. Her is Danielle with her Warm Fuzzy Jar.

Her sister Christina

A wild and crazy pose. Of course it is their favorite kind.

Carol

Aileen

Our wonderful Young Women

Breakfast With Mark

Mark met us for breakfast and it was fun visiting with him.

This is Mark's new home. Last week we helped him move in. This is one amazing home. It is owned by a man who has many connections with the movie making world. The bottom floor is his domain with a theater for him to perform magic.

The main floor is decorated with all kinds of memrobilia from the titantic along with all kinds of artistic items.

This home meanders around and after living there a week Mark still doesn't know how many people live there. He lives on the top floor and their are four rooms up there. At the present time their backyard is being transformed into a Hawaiian luau. Who knows what it will be the next time we visit.

Birthday Celebration

In January Lilly sent us an e-mail telling us that Disneyland was offering free tickets to anyone during the year on their birthday. My birthday happened to fall on a Saturday and so I signed up. I was sent a golden ticket which saved us $70.

When we went through the gate they gave me a badge to pin on saying Happy Birthday and my name. All day long workers and visitors would say Happy Birthday. It was fun.

The park was all decked out for Halloween. Many of the visitors were wearing costumes. It was pretty festive.

In the Haunted Mansion one of the workers that was dressed up slowly walked past us then quickly flipped around and said Happy Birthday. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

We had so much. We are still kids at heart.

We ate lunch while watching the Billy Hillbillies. We loved their corny jokes.

It was fun to see the changes in "It's a Small World". It is as fun as ever with some new fun additions.

Toon Town isn't only for children.

This Halloween Tree looked really cool in the daytime and

night time.

Our favorite part of the day was watching Fantasmic and the Halloween Fireworks.

The fireworks were in Halloween colors as Disney Halloween music played. It was quite the way to spend your birthday. Disney really knows how to celebrate even with dancing in the streets.

Jared this one is for you. I can just imagine you out there having a great time dancing in the streets.

5 Brown's Concert

Doug and I had the wonderful opportunity to see the 5 Browns in concert. I was so excited when I saw that they were coming to Fresno.
Tricia gave Doug a CD of their's about a year ago. Doug loves classical music. His Mother loved to play classical pieces on the piano. This is what started his love for this kind of music. His favorite pass-time was to lay on the floor and lead the symphony that was planning on their stereo.

The concert was so amazing! After intermission they had a place where you could put questions you would like to ask them. Then they each answered one or two of the questions. Watching them play they are so serious but they all have a very playful side. We were sitting right by the door so we hurried out when the concert was over to buy their book and CD. Each one of them autographed it.

They are all married. None of them have children yet. A question was asked how do they stay together. They said that their faith makes them strong and they try not to be critical of each other but they take their concerns to the Lord and he helps them to work it out.

It was fun knowing that they are LDS.

Their desire is to make classical music fun and exciting for all ages. On Wednesday they are starting to record an album of songs from popular musicals.

The performance was so uplifting.

Doug finally getting the opportunity to enjoy his Father's Day present

Doug ended up in the Emergency Room on Father's Day. Not a very fun day. What he really wanted to do this summer was go fishing. He has never had a California fishing license and this was the summer to do it.

He has been on a few short fishing trips this summer but finally he got his raft and was determined to enjoy his fishing adventure Labor Day weekend. We went to beautiful Huntington Lake. Doug was in heaven on the open waters.

Doug Fishing at Huntington Lake

Doug was in his highth of glory enjoying nature, fishing, and the open waters.

I would say that this was on his bucket list. One thing to check off but to enjoy again and again.

Doug's 60th Birthday Was a Fun One

I'm a little behind on blogging but I can't miss this day. August 25th Doug turned the big 60.

I put signs and balloons all over the house. My sister Cathy had all kinds of ideas for me from her 60th and her husband's. Thanks Cathy for the fun ideas.

It was time for some fun. Doug is a private person and doesn't like a big deal for his birthday. So we had our own celebration.

One of Doug's favorite treats that he doesn't get very often is cheesecake. So he got a cheesecake that says, "Aged to Perfection".

Since it was such a special occasion we went to Cool Hand Luke's for dinner. It is a Steakhouse that we have heard a lot about and the food is delicious. It was a fun day.

I'm so grateful for the 37 years that we have known each other. Doug never thought with his diabetes that he would live to be 50 let alone 60. I hope he has many more birthdays to come. He loved all of the calls from our children and grandchildren and the special touches they put to their packages they sent . He loves his children and grandchildren very much.

Hearst Castle, Big Sur & Monterrey Aquarium

Doug and I have planned to go to Hearst Castle several times but this time we really did it. This place is amazing! They have several different tours that you can go on. We went on the basic tour and hope someday to go back and take another tour of a different area. On weekends they have an evening tour I think that would be really fun to go on it,
This property was like a city within itself. Everything a person needed was available to them. The Hearst's even had a zoo their for several years.
Every detail was paid attention to. The architecture is amazing.

This is where the guests would come and eat. I thought it was interesting that with everything so fancy they would have catsup and mustard on the table in these containers. Mr. Hearst loved hamburgers and a relaxed atmosphere.

Can you believe these tennis courts? There was plenty for their guests to do.

The detail of every room was amazing even the ceilings. Every inch is decorated.

Here is Doug by their indoor swimming pool. They even had an area to dive off from into the water. This is a castle fit for a King.

The gardens were beautiful and many plants were shipped in from all over the world.

I remember several of our children going to this Castle on an 8th grade trip and being really embarrassed about the statues not being clothed. Looking at them quite a few years ago and now the statues are pretty mild to the side of the ones we might see today.
They had a huge indoor movie theater. Many movie stars and important people stayed there.

One thing I thought was quite interesting was that the movie stars were told that smoking was healthy for them. That is why many of them started smoking. It kind of backfired on them when they found out how unhealthy it was.

My pictures are out of order but I don't know how to move them around. We went to the Monterrey Aquarium and this time the highlight were all of the wonderful Seahorse Displays. They are fascinating creatures.

We loved driving up the coast to Monterrey. It is called the Big Sur. The scenery was amazing.

It was such a fun relaxing trip. Just what we needed before we headed back to school.

The Jellyfish are some of our favorites at the aquarium.

We loved watching the Sea Otters. The children around us loved watching them. I have never seen so many very young children taking pictures. With the digital cameras even the little ones can take pictures.

Below are Elephant Seals on the San Simeon Beach near Hearst Castle. The seals were entertaining to watch. I'm glad these videos turned out.

We really enjoyed this short, fun trip.