Maisey Cow hat Contest

So, here is a little girl's cow hat. Here is the deal. I think it would fit probably 1 to 3 year old. Not completely sure. So tell me why you want it. The best story gets it! I will also be doing this on facebook. Hope it finds a good home.

Church Ward Campout 2011

My Church Ward has campouts almost every year. I have missed going on them for a long time for various reasons. This time, I heard about it enough ahead of time to arrange to go. We went to the Church owned girl's camp LoMia, outside of Pine. I have been there once before, but was in a different part. This is the comfortable place I got to sleep. It was in a "cabin", but it had an open side. It was much colder than I expected it to be. When I went to bed, I got my head under the covers and was able to get warmed up. Then I was comfortable the rest of the night. I felt badly for some folks, who were really ill prepared for the cold temperatures.

Some folks had gone up early and had a nice hot dinner of stew and cornbread ready as people trickled in. I was dieting and so brought my own food. But it looked good and it was very nice of them.

There was a good turnout. The Russels came.

After dinner there was a nice campfire. There was a lot of roasting marshmallows and an enjoyable campfire program, singing, stories and jokes.

Some fun father and son hotdog roasting.

Melanie roasting a marshmallow.

Some of the entertainment.

More fathers and sons.

Dutch oven desserts were made and distributed.

The Thompsons came.

Some of us got up very early and went on a hike. I was a more sensitive to the altitude than I expected and got a good workout. When we got back, breakfast was waiting. How cushy is that!

The kids got tractor rides and an Easter Egg hunt. Thanks to everyone who planned and organized the event.

Here is a really fun snippet of the campfire entertainment. Dan Currier and his son Noah doing a Star Wars version ot American Pie.

Easter Cake

I am working on Easter and we are going to have a potluck that night. Here is the cake I made to bring. I have never done the basketweave before. I looked at it a lot asked a few questions and decided to give it a try. And yes I know my cookies are amateurish. Still....I think it turned out pretty good. I could never have done anything like this before!

Happy Easter!

Ft. McDowell Low Rider Car Show

Penny and I went out to the Ft. McDowell Low Rider Car Show this evening. It was an interesting cultural experience. I didn't have a very clear idea about the whole low rider thing. I have seen them go by sometimes on the road. And have seen them do a little bit of up and down and side to side hopping. Not quite sure about how it all worked or what it all meant. Now I know that one of the differences between the low riders and the other car shows I have been too, is that these cars are tricked out to the max. Anything to make them over the top, luxurious etc. It 's pretty amazing to see. The other car shows try to restore the cars or keep them true to what they were. These are all custom babies. So here are a couple of videos from the "car hop". I had no idea what to expect from this. The guys are standing beside the cars with a controller rather than being inside. It's like a giant remote control toy car. Watch closely to the end of the second one. The red car loses it's bumper and catches on fire! They don't do this drastic of hopping with the really tricked out cars. It would ruin them.

There were a lot of cool looking cars. Amazing paint jobs. These hydraulic system is what makes them go up and down and etc. They use a bunch of batteries too. A lot of these guys have painted and chromed and perfected these cars beyond anything I could imagine.

And another thing that was different; they were sort of displayed in their own little "set". They had vaious props and tiles and mirrors around them.

This one was the most over the top out there of any I saw. It's from LA. The wheels are off and there are mirror tiles all under the car so you can fully appreciate everything he has done. If you  enlarge this photo you can see some of the delicate black painting just above the Chevy logo.

This is the wheel well. Yes the wheel well. Look at the engraved chrome and painting inside. Unbelievable. The engraved chrome was all over the car. I didn't even notice the painting inside the wheel well until I got this home on my computer.

Here is the front of the car. See the mirrors under the hood?

Here is an example we saw inside of the car of one of the remote control boxes.

Another nice paint job.

Cool upholstery. Mother of pearl and all inside.

The chromed hydraulics and color coordinated batteries.

So Where do you start if you want to do this hobby? Why with strollers, bikes and wagons! Who knew?

A Pirates of the Caribbean themed bike.

Wagon complete with cool lights and mirrors.

Plush seating. There were lots more, but this is a sample for you. I probably won't go again, but it was a fun experience.

Dog Show April 2011

Penny and I like to go to a dog show at least once a year.  We really don't pay lots of attention to the classes, but we love to look at the dogs, pet them and visit with the owners. This past weekend was the mega dogshow weekend. At the Cardinals stadium, there was a dog show Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We elected to go on Monday, but because it was the tail end of the big event, there were the least amount of dogs and people there. The good news was we didn't have to pay 10$ to get in as we would have other wise.

This first dog is Tin Tin. He was the only Japanese Chin at this show and a champion. I have to say, that he is cute enough, but not anywhere as cute as my Winston. Winston isn't show quality. He is much taller and bigger than the show Chins and he has a crooked bite. But he is still cuter. Don't you think? He has a little more of a snout than the show dogs too. Tin Tin only weighs 6 lbs. Winston is 15 and he isn't fat, he is just a bigger dog.

This is a show quality red minature pincsher. My Dobbie probably outweighs him by about 12 to 15 lbs. Dobbie is also a taller bigger dog and he never got his ears docked. Maybe he isn't cuter, but I think he is probably sweeter.

Then we have the giant section. We spent quite a bit of time talking to the people who owned a whole bunch of these guys. The red one is a Dogue de Bordeux. He is only 9 months old. The full grown males were enourmous. The one next to him is a female bull mastiff. I always liked thise dogs.

This is a full grown male, but the picture doesn't do justice to his massiveness.

This great dane was close to the same size as Penny. Penny thought he could wear her shoes.

And there are always the supermodels. This Afghan hound was beautiful.

And here is a perfectly groomed Bischon Frise. Ready for a nap. I think we woke him up.

And a Yorkie with her curlers in. Really just keeping her mustache hair clean and ready for the show.

And this Maltese was ready with some blinging bows.

These is a Tibetin Spaniel. I"ve always liked them and thought I would like to have one. They are a very old breed. Very nice dogs and a good size for my house. They are about the same size or slightly smaller than my Winston.

We thought this just looked like a pile of hair. It was pretty hilarious. The guy said, yeah that's what we do with the losers. It was really a Lahsa Apso. It was breathing. Just very relaxed.

A pile of pugs.

We saw some beautiful Schnauzers. We especially saw a lot of black Giant Schnauzers. They are big dogs. This is a standard Schnauzer. Penny really liked her. The minature Schnauzers looked really tiny after seeing the others.

This is an English Cocker Spaniel. They are very nice dogs. I used to have 2 American Cockers. I think the English Cockers are a little taller and more low key. His ears are wrapped to keep them clean.

This is a smooth Brussels Griffon. It is the same breed of dog as was in the movie "As Good As It Gets", except that was a wire hired one. He was a nice dog. They are very small.

This is the wire hired. He has also had his ears cropped.

This is a merle coated Pomeranian. I had never seen a Pom this color before.

This is a Havanese. They are orginally from Cuba. I've often thought they would be a nice dog for me too.

So ..as we were leaving , we saw the field that they play football on outside. This guy was mowing it . Penny thought it would be really fun to be able to drive this mower around. We would have loved to see them roll the field in. Maybe another time.

The Musical Instrument Museum

The Musical Instrument Museum or the MIM has been in North Phoenix for about a year. I have several friends who have gone, and raved about it, but I hadn't been yet. I wanted to go with my friend, Joyce, because I knew she would love it. So finally, we went today. Let me just say, we were there 5 hours and didn't see it all. We had to stop because we were worn out. But they say if you bring your reciept in during the next 30 days, I can get in for 5$ off. It's normally 15$. And worth every penny, I think.

There are lots of possible ways to arrange the collection. Joyce was having fun thinking of all the alternatives. The main collection is organized geographically. We only made it through Europe and North America. We learned a lot and enjoyed every minute of it.

This is in the entry way. These cool huge instruments hanging from the ceiling.

So many interesting instruments.  There are some special exhibits interspersed. One just on guitars. That is where this one was. There is one on how to make a Martin guitar and another one on how they make Steinways. Amazing.

And fun and whimsy everywhere. Like this pink sax.

And beauitful artistry and folk art.

Instruments from very tiny to enourmous.

I had to put this infor my friend Penny. She played the accordian against her will has a child. Joyce said her cousin partly supports himself playing the accordian.See what you missed Penny?

Intricately carved.

Who knew bagpipes weren't just a scottish thing? There were so many different kinds. A lot of them made out of animal skins and you could still see what the animal was.

There was also a room where you could touch and try out a whole bunch of different instruments. It was very cool. And another room full of mechanical instruments like music boxes, nickelodeons and player pianos.

When you walk in, there is this huge gong. I told Joyce I wanted to hit it. When we got to the interactive area, I was so excited to see there was one we could hit!

And then there is a celebrity section. Here is a guitar on loan from Paul Simon. You can see his name in mother of Pearl. If  you look closely, the label inside says the guitar was made especially for Paul Simon.

Here is John Lennon's Piano.

I love Eric Clapton. Here is one of his guitars.

And this is one of those cool drums they used in the opening ceremonies during the Olympics in Beijing.

And there is so much more. I have to get back and see the rest. There was a special exhibit on latin music. It was cool, all the different styles and influences. And I didn't get to Africa, Asia, South America or the Middle East. It truly is a world class museum.

Joyce playing chop sticks.