Big Muscles

Last night, I (Varden) picked up two 25 pound bags of wheat and carried them downstairs to the food storage room. Alaina saw me pick them up and said, "Wow, Dad you are STRONG! You must have big muscles." I was wearing a leather jacket and long-sleeve shirt. "Dad, take off your jacket so I can feel your muscles. I have some muscles, but here on this part they are just soft." After I put the bags down, I took off my jacket and flexed my arms so she could feel. "Wow! Dad your muscles are hard!"

Talk about a huge ego boost! Lest you ever wonder why a beautiful 4-year-old princess gets so much attention from her dad--now you know.

It made all that time playing house with her as the "Mom" in the morning before work and last Saturday in-between projects well worth it.

More recent photos--09

Gotta see the whales, beach, sea world!

More california.    We saw about 6 whales on our ride, and a few times saw a couple of the whales quite close.  Then, plenty of dolphins as they played close to the boat.  If you go, we highly recommend Dave's Dolphin Safari at Dana Point Harbor.  The catamaran was built so you could easily stand right over the dolphins swimming just a couple of feet away.

The dolphins purposely seem to want to be close to the boat, would circle around and come back to us--just to play with us!  

California Jan 09

We had to get away to the warm weather when we saw the temperature was 70 degrees and sunny all week in Southern California!  

Here are a few photos of the beach.  Water was 54 degrees, but it was still fun with our wetsuits and playing in the sand.  Those dolphins are swimming wild in the open ocean--right along our boat, which you can see in the bottom right corner.

Sweet Timothy

I've been singing Timothy to sleep outside on our swing every night the past few months while the whether is good. Those are some of my most precious moments with him--and I have fond memories of doing the same with each of the other children. If we have everyone else in bed and he knows the lights are off and it's his turn--he usually falls asleep on my shoulder within a few minutes.

Last night, I changed him and put his pajamas on in his room then said, "Okay, Timothy, let's do our personal prayers." He immediately knelt down with me and folded his arms while I knelt with him on my lap! I said a prayer with him. Then, when I said "Amen," he got right up and flopped face-down on his bed with his head on his pillow. He just laid there while I sang to him and rubbed his back, and eventually fell asleep. He fussed once when I left the room, but when I came back in to comfort him again, he laid down and fell asleep.

Talk about a sweet experience. He's a darling, and, like all the others, is growing way too fast.

Angels

Our angels asleep! They found this spot on their own and snuggled together.