Polar Plunge

This friday, New Years Day at noon, the Heaths are gonna take the plunge at Huntington Beach Pier. The Annual Polar Plunge has become a tradition in our family. The first member of the Polar Bear Club was Emma Grace and then she was followed by her sister Lily and brother Will last year. Will wasn't going to do it but in the last seconds stripped off his shirt and joined in just before the count down. This year lil O has decided to join the club. Any other takers?

Food Glorious Food

BBQ Turkey--I likey!
Once you've had this turkey, you'll never go back to roasting again. Smoked Turkey in a 55 gallon drum is heaven on earth. I've never been a fan of turkey, I've tolerated for the holidays, Thanksgiving mainly, but the real celebration of the Thanksgiving meal was the gravy, I mean, that is what makes the meal right? But now when I have turkey, I will enjoy the meat itself.

Richard heard from a friend the technique of bbq the turkey in a 55 gallon drum and gave it a try. He is hooked.

Since the Mercedes is totaled, and we no longer need the recycled oil for fuel, he converted one of the drums into a bbq and tested it out for our Christmas dinner.

At the bottom of the drum he as a disk that comes from a tractor plow and in this disk he places the fuel--mesquite logs.

He basically hangs the turkey from a rebar a foot and a half above the coals and cooks it as seen below. Then he seals the top so that the smoke stays in the can and flavors the meat. The turkey takes about 2 hours or more, depending on the size, to cook. The meat was moist and flavorful. By far the best turkey meat I have ever eaten.

It was a hit with those that attended, namely Rob and Claire and their girls, my sister Pamela and Elder's Paxman and Fields. It was a great success. Thanks Richard for providing that awesome turkey! I'll never go back.

See the pic of Lily holding "Thomas" long for tom cat. Mitchell found this lil general in the fields behind his house. He is a favorite with the kids. I call him the general because he reminds me of Napolean. He is a little guy but has a big attitude.

Christmas Wishes Come True.

Love this "WISH" garland that my nephew's wife Candice made for us. She is a writer, poet, artist and photographer. See her work here. This will be a treasured heirloom for my family. LOVE IT! Thanks Candice.

Here is Will opening one of his many starwars guys from Santa. Notice how fast his hands are moving. He couldn't get to them fast enough.

Wills bike, black mini rod by electra. Hot looking wheels.
Emma pies sweet ride. She is going to have to name this one. It has history and she will make history riding on it. Love this.
Lily is in heaven with her long board. She is growing up. My sweet, gracious Lily

Owen loves his space station. He spent most of the day playing with this play mobile set.

Here is Lily in action. Not fair for her to grow up so fast.
Will taking his bike for a spin. He will have to name his too. I will report their names later.

Emma on her three speed. She needs to get some more practice with the gears and the hand brakes. This bike is completely original including the tires!, built and sold in Chicago, another reason it is near and dear to my heart.
The gift that got the most attention today was the game cube that the kids got from their Uncle Scott and Auntie Adie. They all loved it and had a great time. Thanks!

Mitch will go out and get his eight track tomorrow. I will take some pics of him recording himself. Mitchell has been playing a lot of music lately with his friends in his garage. He has been hitting the drums and playing both the bass and the electric guitar. I can't wait to hear his recordings.

All in all I am grateful for the full Christmas that we enjoyed and for the gift of life, health, faith, friends and family. May these blessings continue and may we all have peace in our homes.

Time to Make Wishes Come True.

Will at his second grade performance 12/10

I love this boy. He makes me smile. Why wouldn't he? Look at him? He has that grin and that playful look in his eyes, all the time, most especially when he was in trouble. When he was little and in trouble, I had to turn my head away when scolding him because he would look at me with that playful look trying to change my mood and often he was successful. That all changed however, when he tried it on his Kindergarten teacher and she looked him right back in the eye and said "That won't work with me Mr.!" Gotta love Ms. Putnam.

The other day, Will came up to me after playing Cranium for kids and he had in his hand this picture. "See mom, it said to draw a safe place," he said looking at me with a warm smile.

"Oh that's nice Will" I say, half looking because I was busy at the computer.

"See mom, it's you!" at once I looked down and saw the sweetest picture I have ever seen and one I will keep FOREVER. I mean who wouldn't, right. Because all I can think of are the times I got upset with him, or the times that I lost patience with him, and so feel such gratitude that he forgives me for those times and still finds me to be that safe place. I want to be that safe place.

Tonight while getting ready for Christmas, I found this letter that Will had written to Santa. We have known that he wants Star Wars guys for Christmas and are prepared with them, but when seeing the effort that he went into writing this letter, equipped with glitter, Christmas decorations, and examples cut out of ads, I feel very pleased that this boy will get his wish, and that all of them will get their wish. Will has been very enamored by Santa. Tonight when coming home from Scott and Adie's he asked his Auntie, "Aunt Pam, do you believe in Santa?" To which my faithful sister replied, "Well I believe in the real spirit if Christmas which is about our Lord and Savior Jesus, But the other guy, is okay too, although he came along later!"

To which Will replied, "Well, I believe! I believe! I heard him on my roof, so I know he is true!" We all agreed! Will has been a perfect listener, coming the first time I call, he has been a dependable worker, doing what I ask when I ask, he has been a thoughtful son, rubbing my back, extending love and kisses, and when ever I compliment him on his effort, or extend my gratitude, he replies, "I want to be good for Santa!" I remind him that it would be great if he were to continue this behavior throughout the year. Notice that Will wrote on Santa's letter in red, "your my hero!"

What did everyone want? Here are their wishes:

Mitch: 8 track recorder--yes remember those from the 70s? that's what he wants, he will have to search so he is getting money toward his recorder. (I was wrong. It's not the one from the 70's but it is an 8 track.)
Will with his Kindergarten teacher and now 2nd grade teacher, Ms. Putnam.

Lily: a long board skate board. She has been wanting one since camping at the beach. This baby is custom made from a guy in Claremont and has sand from San Clemente Beach on it. This year she will be able to take her own long board.

Emma: clothes and Lip gloss from Bath and Body Works. That's all that girl ever wants is lip gloss and more lip gloss, well she got it as well as a trip back to the 70s with a 1971 Schwinn Breeze bicycle in lemon yellow. Woah, she is a beauty. I Love her and so will Emma.

Will: got his Starwars guys but also got a black Electra mini Rod beach cruiser with flames and red wheels. Hot!

Owen: like his brother wants Star wars guys but also got the coolest playmobile spacestation set from the 90's. complete with hover crafts, moon transporter, robots and astronauts. Very Cool.

Yes wishes will come true! and all the gifts, with the exception of Lily's long board, are used which we think is pretty dang cool.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. all the way.

Merry Christmas.

Good times ahead!

Your Song

I've taken a long break from my blog. A lot has been going on. Life keeps teaching me, I hope I am learning something.

All the while, I can't help but feel grateful for those who are in my life that bless me and my family. When it comes right down to it, it doesn't matter what we have, but who we have in our lives that really matters and I feel the people in my life are a gift. And I am blessed with very good friends and an awesome family.

I have always loved the song Your Song, but just found this version by Al Jarreau. For those who take me higher, higher than the sun, This is your song.

Plane Portraits

Robby descended upon the roaring group reverently. We hugged, told him we loved him and he was off to be released from serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I knew we wouldn't be able to spend much time with him, but we all wanted to be there. So what to do in LA? I had a few ideas of what we could do and one of them is as follows.

I knew that if we came here:

a big grassy field right at the entrance to LAX

And if we ate here:

In n Out Burger is right across the street.

I knew we would be able to see this:

A picnic under landing planes: pretty awesome.

I knew the kids would like it but what I didn't know is that we would have so much fun doing this:
Plane Portraits--


After I saw that first plane fly over, I knew I needed a picture of my kids and a plane together. We practiced what to do and where to stand a few times before the next plane arrived. The kids scattered across the grassy area and I would yell, "the plane, the plane!" (no I was not imitating tatoo on Fantasy Island) and the kids would scream and run from all directions to get to their spots.
This was our first attempt:

Cute photo but ooppps missed

We continued to work at it. Some of us got there some of the time

Others showed up when they could

Here Lily is racing a plane. Looks like the plane is ahead by a nose.

Bam! the real deal. Notice that in each picture Owen is pretending he is falling
out of the plane in a parachute.

I thought I would try continual focus feature. Here is a series.





So if your at LAX with nothing to do, go to In n Out, Climb some trees

Play some tag,


and take some Plane Portraits. It was a guaranteed good time.

Missionary Portraits

Remember the shoes?





Well here is the man!

You Can Tell By His Shoes

We headed out to LAX to see my amazing nephew, Elder Stowell return home from serving an honorable mission in the Cebu Philippines. It was an emotional experience--both joyful and reverent. I will post more photos of Robby and his family when I get more from my sis in law. But for now, I feel that these two photos tell an important story.

You can tell by his shoes that this was a young man who gave his all-- every day out there tracting, meeting people, introducing them to the happiness and joy that can come through living the gospel and developing faith in Jesus Christ; every day out there digging holes, farming, trudging through mud to get to huts built upon marshy land; everyday out there loving families, leading wards, guiding people; everyday out there negotiating companionships, praying, studying , fasting; everyday out there teaching, testifying, blessing, ordaining. . . I love those shoes and the story that they tell. I love that he used them up to the end and that they finally brought him home safely to his mother and father. We are all very proud of you Robby

Southern California Livin'

Yesterday my sister in law took the words right out of my mouth "You gotta love Southern California living!"

Yes!

I wholheartedly agree. I love living here. I am a native, born and raised here until 12, when my dad was transferred to Chicago, another amazing place to live by the way. But I came back as an adult, transferred again from Sacramento, only this time I was married with a child.

I had mixed emotions: excited for the chance to live by my family, my sister and brother and his family lived here, my parents had just relocated from Chicago, I loved the beach, In n Out Burger, the Hollywood Bowl, but I was frustrated with the lack of open land--the juxtaposition of city after city crammed together tight, like a jigsaw puzzle, no one knowing where one began and the other ended except for the dirty freeway sign or dusty marker on the road. I felt the "Storm Watches" on the news was, how can I put this lightly, pitiable. Please, it is sprinkling outside, and there is an anchorwoman (why do they mostly send woman out to do these stories) on the side of the freeway reporting on the great storm we are experiencing. Sorry my dear friends, southern California knows nothing about real weather. I was concerned about what southern Californians considered being the news, I am sorry but Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton are not that important to me but they seem to be in the headlines all the time as does any other celebrity and their troubles. I missed seeing open land, I wanted big back yards and small quaint houses, not big boxy houses and small back yards, I missed the feeling of small towns where you could find Mainstreet, I missed community news.

I too, like some friends I know, thought grass was greener on the other side, felt like life would be better lived else where and looked in the likes of Utah, where houses were cheaper, Montana where the skies were wider, Seattle, where the lands were were wetter, Minnesota, where the lakes are superior, No Ca, where the people are liberaler-er-er, Colorado where the forests were denser, but I have come to realize that I am a So Ca girl through and through. I belong here and will stay. Of course knowing that teachers can't really transfer from Ca or they lose there retirement helps aid the decision as well, but that is another matter entirely.


Regardless, I am happy here and happy to be here. I love that outdoor living is available all year long here. We BBQ in January-- one of my very favorite months of the year in So Ca. I love the ocean and the beaches, I love the cultural opportunities of Los Angeles--recently considered an up and coming art capital of the world--I can hear live music every day of the week if I choose, in multiple venues, I can enjoy the vast landscape that So Ca offers from the beach to the desert to the mountains and in the valleys. Oceans, streams lakes, water falls are all local and available to me, and finally the people, I love the people! All types of people from many different walks of life and many varieties of personalities, all with stories to tell and things to share. If you want a sample of the variety, one can go visit Venice Beach where, I was reminded by a young friend, "there are all kinds there" and yes there are.

One of my favorite activities which makes one think, "Nothing like Southern California Living!" is going to the ocean in the early afternoon, after sleeping in, after traffic, after lunch and staying until the sun slowly sinks her rosy self down and tucks herself into the ocean's vast rippling blanket and says goodnight. It is a glorious time of day, there is something magical about it especially near the water and even more pleasing if your in it. It brings me great joy. Yesterday was one such day.