Isn't technology great!

We bought a digital camera a year or so before Katrina was born and we took a lot of photos with it, because, well... you can! The year that we moved into our house and I was pregnant with Katrina, we took a LOT of photos. We downloaded them all onto our computer. We bought a CD writer and a memory stick so that we could back up all the photos. Katrina was born and we downloaded the photos and then when we tried to back up the photos, the computer crashed and burned and died a horrible death! All the photos from Katrina's birth... gone.

We were sick! We emailed everyone and asked them to send back emails that we had sent with photos in them, so we were able to get a few of the photos back, but only about a third of them.

Now, finally, technology has caught up with us! Kevin bought an external hard drive case and was able to make a newer computer believe that the old hard drive was basically a memory stick and was able to retrieve and copy all of the photos for most of 2005! It was such a wonderful relief to be able to see ALL the photos from the day of Katrina's birth, including the two videos that we took of her only minutes after she was born!

Technology is a wonderful thing!

Grape Harvest

This morning Amanda and I left the house at 6:30am and started out to the Church Welfare Farm in Madera to pick some grapes. As we crossed Whitesbridge, I said to Amanda, referring to the pink and orange sky to the east, "look at the beautiful sunrise!" Just at that moment the sun poked above the mountains and quickly began to rise into the sky. It was the first time that Amanda had seen a sunrise as it happened, so she thought it was pretty cool.

We had already gone out on Wednesday night and worked with the rest of our ward to pick grapes. I did a lot of picking, but I also did a lot of picture taking! There were a lot of kids there with their parents, so I tried to get families together. They had baby sitting at the chapel (Kevin was helping there) and so there were several couples at the vineyard as well. Amanda always has a great time picking grapes and the ward did a whole row and started on another before the sun went down. There were a lot of people out there and it always goes so much faster when there are a lot of hands doing the work.

This morning we also picked up Amanda's friend Bailie and she came with us to pick grapes. We got there and the Kerman Ward rows had already been completed (a total of about 1000 trays!), so we started on Madera 3rd Ward's rows. Amanda, Bailie and I got six trays completed on our own before some more people from our ward came, including the sister missionaries, and we all worked together down the row. We got half way down the quarter mile row before it was time for us to go and take Bailie home. As we walked to the van we passed the Van Ness Ward rows and so we got to see a lot of old friends that we haven't seen for a while. It was fun!

At the Church Welfare Farm, all the labor is voluntary, and all the raisins go to help with humanitarian aid. For example, when Hurricane Katrina hit, the Church sent water and food, including raisins. As dirty and sweaty as you get, and all the spiders and weeds you have to contend with, it feels good to know that you are doing this work for the Lord and for the needs of His children throughout the world.

See all the Wednesday Night pics here.

See all the Saturday Morning pics here.

See Fresno Bee article, "Fruits of their labor" here.

60,000 Miles

I rolled 60,000 miles on the BMW R100GS on the way home tonight. I'm aiming at 100,000.

First Day of School

This morning Amanda and Rebecca were off to school again! All week long the have been excitedly planning what they were going to wear and put in their backpacks.

Katrina was a little out of sorts this morning. I think she realized that something was changing, and I am not sure that she was all that happy about it. All the way to Sun Empire Elementary School, she sat in her car seat with a little frown on her face. Kevin asked her if she was okay and she gave a little nod, but her expression didn't change.

Rebecca was very excited to have Mrs. Nakagawa for her second grade teacher. Amanda had Mrs. Nakagawa for second grade and we all know what a great teacher she is. Rebecca hugged her teacher, found her desk and her cubby and after a few quick hugs to Mom and Dad and her sisters, she was off to the playground.

We drove home and then Kevin, Katrina and I walked over to Liberty Intermediate School with Amanda. She is in the accelerated learning class with Mr. Karagozian. There are many kids that she knows from Sun Empire in there with her, so I know she will be fine, but when we got there she started to shuffle timidly and then put her finger in her mouth, a sure sign that she was very nervous. We know she will be fine, but it may take a day or two.

Katrina is doing fine now. She is sitting at the table having cereal and watching Little Einsteins. She is happily patting the table to help rocket take off and is yelling, blast off! She will miss her sisters, but I think she is going to enjoy having the house and Mom to herself for a while!

See all the pics here.

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's Soul 2 Soul Concert

Last night Kevin and I went to the Tim McGraw and Faith Hill concert at the Savemart Center in Fresno, CA. It was a REALLY good concert! We had a great time!

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill came out together first and sang a song together and then Faith Hill began her portion of the concert. She sang "This Kiss", "Wild One", "Mississippi Girl", "The Way You Love Me", and others, including an Elvis and ABBA song. There was a break and then Tim McGraw and Faith Hill both came out and sang two songs together and then it was Tim McGraw's turn. He is very charismatic and had the crowd on it's feet for most of the rest of the concert! He sang "The Cowboy in Me", "Real Good Man", "Indian Outlaw", "Something Like That", and a touching version of "If You're Reading This", and many others, including Lora's all-time favorite "Live Like You Were Dying". As he sang that song, the audience sang along with him louder than we did for any other song, and at the end, I thought I saw Tim wiping tears from his eyes. He said, "THAT is exactly why we do this every night! To hear that like that! It doesn't get any better than that! Thank you."

The concert began at 7:50pm with a warm up band, Lance Miller. At 8:20pm the Tim McGraw and Faith Hill concert began and it ended at 11:45pm. It was like seeing two concerts! We definitely got our money's worth! (technically speaking of course -- thanks for the tickets Mom!) We were up in the balcony in section 204, but it didn't really matter, as the stage was in the center of the arena with four arms that extended out to all the sides, so Faith Hill and Tim McGraw were often right below us.

Faith Hill mentioned at one point that they really like Fresno and that they would like to come back. We hope they do!

See all the pics here.