Just when you think you’re about to capture a great sunset...

A space age bicycle drives into your field of view... I guess he needed a quick trip to Lowe's?

Julie’s Christmas present.

You may remember the red wall of our kitchen which has been the backdrop for many photos along the years. It has been showing the wear and tear of us coming and going to and from the garage over the years. Julie had the idea to put up some bead board. So for Christmas, her mom bought the supplies and I supplied the labor to put it up. We really like the way it turned out. 

Speaking of Janice. She seems to be winding down her time with us. I don't think it will be all that long now. Your prayers are appreciated for the process. She knows where she's going and she's ready as are we. That makes it better, but not easier.

She has been a great testimony of our Christian faith and I am so glad our family shares that assurance as well.

You haven’t seen enough squirrel pics lately!

Here's Chungus eating some of her eggshells. She got the leftovers from when Julie made potato salad.

The sunset last night.

This view lasted for all of three minutes before it faded into dusk.

81 years ago!

My mom, Julie, Johnny and I were talking about how time passes and it's interesting to think about what our relatives were doing at the same age along their lives. I realized not long ago that I was the same age as Julie's parents and mine as what they were when I was graduating and getting married.  

My mom found this picture of her parents on their wedding day in 1939! He was my age and her mom was 42. They welcomed my mom to the world just over a year later.  

Fun to think about their lives back then and hard to imagine all at the same time.

Heaven on earth!

We made Julie's birthday trip to Jungle Jim's this week. I found my favorite section! I'll take one of each!

A great collage of all of “US” kids mostly in birth order.

My phone automatically suggested this in honor of Julie's birthday.

Julie’s presents all ready for her birthday celebration!

Her favorite one is in the black tactical backpack...! THATS's my girl, all pink bows and flowers! ;)

I told my nephew to eat my dirt and he took me seriously!

We sure had a good time zooting around the place. He found more mud than the rest of the crew COMBINED. That's what it's all about. Lower left is after we knocked the worst of it off. Haha.

Julie bought me a little Christmas break project for our ATV

I took it all apart to install my new winch. Top left two pictures, all the parts. Bottom left, what it looked like before I started. Top right two, all the body panel rivets I had to remove, and the winch finally installed. Bottom right is how far I had to take it apart to get to the frame and the electronics!

Luckily it worked correctly the first time I tried! I managed to get it all back together in time for Ian to come ride. I did it in two shifts and it was out of commission for less than a day. :)

Our Christmas gatherings have evolved, or maybe devolved, into feats of strength!

Good times!

My mom made the mistake of asking for a knife to open her present...!

I think she ultimately chose the axe. Haha.

I guess we have to count this as a white Christmas?!

These two guys! All ready to open their stockings on Christmas morning.

Who is that third guy in the middle...?!

I got Julie this little EcoSphere for Christmas.

It is an entirely enclosed aquarium including 6-8 shrimp. It all feeds itself! As a bonus, the shape magnifies the shrimp so you can see them going about their little lives.

The sunrise as Christmas break leads into Christmas and I get to hang out with my mother in-law.

It's worked out nicely that I am able to be off as she starts to need more care. I never get enough time to enjoy a coffee or breakfast, or just watching the sunrise. I've done all three a few times over the last week or so. Making the best of it. ;)

Johnny and I on a last minute Christmas/coffee/breakfast run!

My boys, ready for our Christmas celebrations

Check out one of our 2020 Christmas ornaments!

It sums up Julie's year pretty well! It's been fun having the chipmunks and squirrels around for sure. This ornament is actually a slightly larger than life-size version of Chippy. Haha!

Crazy kids!

I had the brilliant idea to let the boys go out and buy stocking stuffers for each other and stuff each other's stockings. From just what we can see on the top, it was and still will be an interesting experience... Some of the stuff is even trading sides as the days progress... I don't think my glasses are supposed to be part of the gifts! Haha.

At least we had a little snow while gathered at my in-law’s house to share Christmas gifts.

The tree is all ready for Christmas.

May you see the joy the savior and our salvation brings, in spite of the difficulties you may be facing!

I’m slowly working my way up in the balisong world

I've been buying used ones as other people upgrade. I really like the color scheme on this traininer.

I like these snow owls on our tree at church...

But at a quick glance they sometimes look like a yeti! Haha.

We had a beautiful service on the last Sunday before Christmas.

Some would say I’m a bad influence on my nephews...!

My nephew and some of his swim team mugging!

My version of the Christmas “star” from Sunday night.

If you zoom in, you can see I managed to capture three of Jupiter's moons (bottom light) and maybe even just enough oblong shape of the top light to pretend it's because of the rings of Saturn.

This was with my Sony hybrid camera, handholding while leaning against a tree.

I love it that grown kids will still sit and watch Pixar movies!

Not only watch, but passionately debate the intricacies and merits of the storyline, and characters along the way.

Why women live longer than men...!

There is a lot going on in this picture worth questioning! Haha!

Trying to get all three Christmas themes in the same picture. Our tree, dad's star, and the Son's star!

I finally pulled our old family Christmas star out of the attic. My dad used to hang this on the same tree. You can see our Christmas tree in the family room window too. In the lower left of the picture, right in the Y of the tree, you can make out what looks like a start. That is indeed Jupiter and Saturn nearly converged. The "solstice star" which some posit was the phenomenon the wisemen saw 2000 years ago? If you look really close, you can see there are actually two points of light there.

A discussion involving tape measures about the possibility of time travel... :)

A beautiful morning getting ready for church the last Sunday before Christmas!

The apples counter the chocolate bombs, so it’s still a healthy diet...

I just liked the picture of the Christmas tree, but laughed at the "presents" under it.

Ian powering down his lane!

I like keeping tabs on his college sports. It's nice because swimming doesn't come with all the politics that football seems to these days. I still get my NCAA fix without the stress! :)

Speaking of NCAA, Ian made the cut this week with a personal best that landed him on spot in the NCAA championships for the 200 meter backstroke. Way to go mister!

I used a Kroger coupon my mom gave me to try this flavor.

I really like it. It has a cinnamon hint to it. Everyone else in my family gave it a pass so, MINE ALL MINE. ;)

Just a little Christmas scenery while I was shopping and delivering presents.

It’s fun to see Andy excited enough about calculus to run down and explain it to me! :)

I like the backdrop of his whiteboard explanation of "what do vision systems do"

A perfect day to go shopping with Johnny.

 

Nothing helps you recover from surgery like a snuggle buddy!

Johnny was assigned to make a poster about the Garamond font...

I think he came up with a really cool design and layout.

Some of the crazy didgeridoo at our house...

 Andy has been experimenting with the sound from different length pipes.

Pepper has taken to climbing up on my shoulder while I am TRYING to get ready for bed.

Sometimes she even lies down and tried to take a nap up there!

I’m enjoying some new workouts on my phone.

I like the new integration with my watch, music, control, etc.

Andy is having fun making different size didgeridoo to see how they sound...

A “cool” shot of the fire as it was dying down!

Having a little fun with in-line editing of RAW images and the iPhone camera app.

Changing the detail levels in the shadowed area of the couch cushions was so much better than with a compressed jpg. Nice addition!

Johnny and Andy had some friends over this weekend.

We used it as an excuse to burn some of the leftover wood from our front yard project.

Andy recovering from surgery while watching for his friends and the mail...

 "Where is the knife I ordered tomorrow...?"  It was nice that he had friends willing to come chill with him while he took it easy.

Somehow I doubt after-care instructions should include attempting calculus problems under the influence of anesthesia...!

Ms. Clements and her colleague had fun dressing alike last week.

Their students rolled with it and purposely mixed up their names all day. :). A little levity is called for and appreciated this year!