Katrina is 3!!

Tonight was Katrina's birthday party! Katie is three!! She has been telling that to everyone who will listen!

We had a zoo theme for her party and it was a lot of fun. We had family (Gramma, Papa, Uncle Weston, Aunt Laura and cousin Stone) and lots of friends (the Foxes, the Molloys, the Jorgensens and the Bouds) to help Katrina celebrate. We had hot dogs and chips and lots of yummy fruit and then we all sang "Happy Birthday" and Katrina blew out the candles on her cake. We put in the movie, Madagascar, which is the zooiest movie we have, and the kids all had fun goodie bags to take home.

Katrina is a wonderful three year old and we are sure glad she has been a part of our family for the last three years! We have been very blessed to have her here.

-Lora

See more Zoo-Party pics HERE.

My brush with Jury Duty

I have been called to Jury Duty many times in the past, but I have either had a reason to be excused (leaving the country, giving birth, etc.), or I called several days in a row and was then excused over the telephone. This was the first time that I was actually called to go down to the County Courthouse to report for Jury Duty.

When we arrived on Tuesday morning we registered and then, just as they were about to show the Orientation video, they called a large group of us up to one of the courtrooms. We got there at 9:30am and they started calling a group of eighteen up to the jury box. The judge questioned these eighteen, replacing those that were excused for hardship or other reasons. (I learned a LOT about the jury selection process that I was unaware of. I thought that they talked to all the prospective jurors and then whittled it down to the ones that they needed.)

Early on in the discussion the judge named the charges that were being brought against the defendant. He was being charged with rape of a minor, lewd and lacivious acts on a minor and felony threat. When I heard that my heart just about dropped out of my chest, and you could see that many of the other jurors felt the same way that I did. I did not want to have to sit through a case in which I had to hear all the details of how this man allegedly raped and abused this twelve year old girl. Many of the jurors said they could have sat on a trail for burglary, possibly even murder, before they wanted to deal with the nature of the charges in this case.

It was fascinating to me to watch all the people who, within their minds, knew what the law was and how a person is innocent until proven guilty, but in their hearts, grappling with the idea of being able to be fair and impartial, given the nature of the charges. Several people were saying that they figured he was guilty because the district attorney's office wouldn't bring a case to trial in an overburdened judicial system if they didn't have some good evidence. The public defender and the district attorney asked several very leading questions that gave us a little bit of insight into the possible evidence and arguements in the case. At one point the public defender asked one of the jurors that had recently been through a divorce if she would be bothered to know that the twelve-year-old girl's mother was married to the defendant and they were going through a divorce at the time of the incident. (The DA objected to that question, so he didn't pursue it.) The DA asked several times if the jurors felt that being under the influence of alcohol and meth meant that you were not responsible for your actions. She also asked if we thought that having a mental issue meant that you were not responsible for your actions. The jurors all agreed that being under the influence, or mentally ill, did not mean that you were not responsible for your actions or that you were not capable of intent. And so it went for most of the day.

At 4:30pm a full jury has not been selected, so we had to come back again this morning. At 9:30am we were invited into the courtroom, but then a few minutes later we were asked to step out again. We waited out in the hall for nearly forty-five minutes before we were asked to come back into the courtroom. The judge apologized for the delay in the trial, but explained that the defendant had decided to accept a plea deal and that the case was over and we were all excused. Whew! His voice seemed to get kind of tunneled and far away, as though it wasn't real at first, but when I heard the collective sigh of relief from the rest of the jurors, I knew that I had heard what I thought I did and it was over. I am glad that the twelve year old girl didn't have to sit on the stand and relive all that she had gone through. We all wondered if the depth of the discussion we all went through yesterday made the defendant doubt how well he would be able to do in a jury case, and so he decided to accept responsibilty and go to jail. I am just so grateful for the blessing of not having to be on this jury.

-Lora

Our "new" OLD piano

We had two sources that we were looking at to try to find out how old our piano is - BlueBookofPianos.com and the Pierce Piano Atlas. We used the online questionaire on BlueBookofPianos.com, and we checked the library system for the piano atlas, but it is a reference book so we can't check it out, and the nearest library that had a copy was in Coalinga. I called the library and asked if they could read the information to me over the phone, but instead the very nice librarian copied the information and mailed it to us.

Both the Pierce Piano Atlas and bluebookofpianos.com give us a year of manufacture for our piano of 1916. Wow! By comparison, the Biola Congregational Church building we received the piano from was built in 1921.

Our "new" piano

Okay, so this piano is NOT new, but it's ours! We finally have the piano that we have been trying to get for a few months now. Our piano teacher works with the choir director at Kerman High school who is also the choir director at the Biola Congregational Church, and they had this piano in one of their classrooms that has been sitting for years and they were offering it to anyone who would come to take it away. It took awhile before we had a weekend free to go get it, and today was it!

We had help from Ed Hagar, who brought his trailer, Eddie Molloy, Steve Kaufman and then Ryan Hergenroeder, our across the street neighbor, brought the keys to unlock the church for us.

We had never seen the piano before, so we weren't sure what to expect. Although it is obviously well used, with scratches and dings, etc., it is a beautiful piano. It was set on casters, so it was easier to move than we expected, and when the guys went to push it up the ramp onto the trailer, it went on MUCH easier than we all expected.

We all went back to Kerman and then unloaded the piano. This actually turned out to be the most difficult part of the process. Getting it over the threshold and then over the wood floors without gouging them was the challenge. We rolled the piano onto a rug and then pushed it across the floor, which worked out well.

We put it into the spot where it is going to sit for now and then got to cleaning it and taking a good look at it. It is really dusty but very pretty inside. It is BIG and takes up a lot of room. The living room just got quite a bit smaller.

We are now the proud owners of a Royal Cabinet Grand piano that was manufactured by the Krell Company. It is mostly in tune, and it is definitely going to need some work, but we are so glad to have a piano in our home now. We have been going over to the chapel as often as we could to practice, and that is difficult and time consuming. It will be very nice to be able to sit and practice here at home when it is convenient!

We have tried to do a little bit of research on the internet to try to find out what we can about this piano and how old it is. What we have found out is that the Krell Company made pianos between 1889 and 1949. We are hoping to get more information soon that will narrow down. We also are going to get it checked out and tuned soon as well.

We are very grateful to have this piano!

-Lora

See all the pics HERE.

Rebecca's Baptism

Rebecca has been waiting for this day for a long time! She has been very anxious to turn eight so that she can be baptized! And today was her day!

After Church today we gathered in the Primary room in the Kerman Ward chapel and celebrated Rebecca's enthusiastic decision to follow the example of the Savior and be baptized and become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There were a LOT of family and friends there to support her and show their love.

Rebecca was so excited she could hardly contain herself. We kept telling her to calm down a little bit, but the more we thought about it, we knew that she was just reacting, in the only way an eight year old knows how, to the good feelings of the Spirit. Amanda gave a very good talk on baptism and then Rebecca was baptized by Kevin (in VERY cold water). When she came up out of the water, she and her daddy gave each other a big hug. Her teeth were chattering as she got out of the font, but the smile on her face was enormous!

After everyone had dried off and changed, I gave a talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost, and then Rebecca was given the Holy Ghost and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a blessing by her dad. (Happy Father's Day Kevin!)

Afterwards, we all went outside and took a big huge group picture of all the family and friends who were there, and then several of them came over to our house for a late lunch get-together. Rebecca's Gramma and Papa were there, her Gpa Marshall, her Aunt Stephanie and cousins, Megan, Jeremy, Tracy and David, and also Uncle Scotty and Aunt Lea. There were many friends there as well, the Foxes, the Molloys, the Jorgensens and the Kaufmans. Wes, Laura and Stone showed up later on in the evening.

I don't know that at her age, Rebecca can fully appreciate the blessings of this day and all the people that were there to support her, but I know that she will one day.

-Lora

See all the Baptism/Father's Day pics HERE.

Gpa Marshall's 90th Birthday Party

My Gpa Marshall, Richard Allen Marshall, has been around for 90 years. He has seen a lot! He knows a lot and he likes to talk about the things that he knows. He is very opinionated, but not the type of person to make you feel that your opinion is not important if he doesn't agree with you. He has lost most of his sight, but not any of his heart. He was so thrilled with his party today and the fact that everyone who came had a good time and got along so well.

We left Kerman early in the morning and headed toward the coast. It was a beautiful day, and the traffic was pretty mild. Although we did take a lot of the back roads and smaller highways, so that may have been part of it. We, of course, also stopped here and there along the way to do some geocaching.

The party was at my Aunt Lindi and Uncle Rich's house in Arroyo Grande. Lindi and Rich have a gorgeous home and it was so nice of them to welcome us all there.

My mom and Herb flew down from Alaska. It was really great to see them, if only for one day! My mom just recently retired from over 30 years of teaching, and she is really enjoying the ideas and opportunities that lie ahead of her. Herb is looking really good. I have never seen his beard so short, but it hasn't finished growing back in yet. Nothing else has changed though. Same sense of humor.

My brother Jeremy and his wife Renee came from Castaic with their twins, Zachary and Lily. The kids have grown so much and they are so cute! Lily is quite the charmer and Zachary is checking everything out. Jeremy has quite the upper body muscle mass going from constantly holding two kids, one in each arm!

Lindi's daughter Kerri was there from Stockton, with her husband, Michael, and their daughter Hayli. Hayli is adorable with big, huge brown eyes! Kerri and I have seen each other a few times over the year as we have passed each other going in and out from visiting Gma in Fresno.

Lindi's son, Jason, couldn't be there because of work commitments, but his wife, Cheryl, and their sons Justin and Jared came.

Jordan really wanted to come, but just recently started a new job, so he gave Gpa a call while we were all there celebrating. It was clear that Gpa really enjoyed that call.

We had nibblies and talked, we took lots of group pictures, and then we sang to Gpa and some of the great-grandkids helped him to blow out his candles. We all signed a mat that will go in a frame with a photo of all of us for Gpa.

We all had such a great time talking and sharing stories and experiences. Even though we don't always see each other all that often, I love the fact that we all just pick up where we left off.

After Gpa went back to his home, we all went to a pizza place called the Klondike Cafe that has an Alaska theme. It was fun. We got home MUCH later than we wanted to, but that's okay. It was worth it to be able to spend such a lovely day with family!

-Lora

See all the pics HERE.

Blogging my weight loss journey - Month 5

This month has been both good and bad.

Bad because I didn't try as hard as I could have. Bad because I gave into temptation more than I should have. Bad because I didn't really reach the goals I had for myself this month.

Good because I lost 2 lbs. and 7.5" this month. Good because I went to buy some new clothes this month and I didn't have to shop in the Women's Department! Good because I fit into my size 16 jeans this month. Good because I have been getting a lot of compliments. Good because I am feeling good about myself and how I am doing!

This month was extremely busy and it is easy to get lazy about your goals when you are busy! Some days I would be so busy I would miss a meal and end up eating more at the next one to make up for it. With as full of a schedule as I had it was very difficult to have the time to exercise, and that made a huge difference! Plus there was a birthday party and a weekend vacation. I think I did really well to have lost two pounds, rather than gaining any!

Month 5:

Total weight lost: 38 lbs.

Total inches lost: 50.25"

Goals for this next month:
To pass 178 lbs., which is the halfway mark
Exercise five times a week

Kid Pics

Memorial Day weekend family vacation

This weekend we had a great time as a family, both separately and together. Friday, after the girls got out of school, we got on the road and drove to Mesquite to stay with the Vogels (Kevin's sister). It took us about nine hours to drive out there. On the way we saw trains, rain, stars (Katie calls them stars, they are really wind machines), snow on the mountains above Tehachapi, motorcycles, and all kinds of other fun stuff. The weather was cool this week. Just like in Kerman, it had been unseasonably hot the week before an then had cooled off considerably! It was great weather!!!

We stopped in Barstow for dinner. We laughed as we were leaving, because the train that we passed going through the tunnels near Tehachapi passed us in the parking lot in Barstow.

On Saturday morning Kevin and I kissed our children good-bye and left for Las Vegas. We first went to North Las Vegas and met with my sister, Candace, aka Sister Marshall, and took her and her companion, Sister Jones, to lunch. We went to Red Robin and had a long lunch so that we could catch up and get to know each other better. While Candace and Sister Jones were in the bathroom, I called Corissa on her cell phone and found out she is having a girl so that I could tell Candace. We also took a photo together on my phone and sent it as a picture message to my dad.

From there we did a little geocaching and then checked into the hotel and got ready for the concert. (Read the previous post for the concert info.)

Sunday morning we were awakened at 5:15am by a tour bus starting up and revving it's engines for about an hour. Arg! We were really hoping for more than four hours of sleep. We did get a little bit more, but not much. We got some breakfast at the hotel and then checked out and did some geocaching around Las Vegas and on the way back to Mesquite. We saw a few caches that we decided to wait for the next day when we had the girls with us. We found twenty though, so we did well.

We got back to Mesquite and our kids were running around with their cousins, barely noticing that we had returned. The next morning they we not overly thrilled to hear that we were leaving. Even the promise that they would see their cousins again in a few weeks when Rebecca is baptized was not much of a consolation. We are glad that they all get along together so well! We took some pictures (without a whole lot of cooperation on the part of the kids) and then we were off.

We drove back down to North Las Vegas to see Candace for a little while and the girls could meet her. We were glad we had the chance to visit with her! It had been eleven years since I last saw her.

We did a lot of caching in Las Vegas with the girls, taking them to the caches that we knew that they would like. Through several of the caches we learned a lot about the history of the area. We love virtual caches! We went to the Natural History Museum and saw the huge aluminum dinosaur. We went to the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort and looked at all the historical exhibits. We went by the Neon Graveyard and looked at all the old neon signs from all over Las Vegas that are waiting for the proposed Neon Museum to be built. We drove down the Strip and saw all the sights of Las Vegas.

We also took them to the Mandalay Bay casino to show them where the concert was and where we took the photos, etc. We found the last cache in Las Vegas at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign, had dinner and hit the road for Kerman. It was 4:30pm, which was MUCH later than we had planned on leaving, so we figured we would not have time to stop for any caches. We were going along pretty well (there is usually a huge amount of traffic returning from Las Vegas after the Memorial Day weekend! I-15 is usually a parking lot!), until we got to Primm, which is right on the state border. There was an accident in California and it had backed traffic up all the way into Nevada, so we pulled off in Primm and did a few fun caches. Our first earth cache and another one that was right on the fence line and we took a picture of the girls with one foot in Nevada and the other foot in California.

By 6:30pm we were back on the road and we did okay until we got to Baker. We stopped there for an hour and then we inched forward until we got to the Ag Inspection Station and then after that it was fairly clear all the way through. Although by then we were so far behind that we didn't get home until after 3:00am!

So lots of family, lots of geocaching (30 total!) and lots of fun, but not a lot of sleep!

Las Vegas - Nightwish!

Nightwish - Part 2! It was amazing! It was so much fun!

Kevin and I headed into Las Vegas yesterday (I will blog seperately about our whole trip) and went to the Nightwish concert at the House of Blues. We had decided we were going to be here after we heard the first two or three notes played at the San Francisco concert in November! This time we had purchased the VIP tickets which meant that we not only go to see the concert, but we got to go in early, AND we got to meet the band!

We picked up our tickets at 5:30pm and then hung around the casino (The Mandalay Bay) for a little while before we had to get into the VIP line. HOB Security checked everyone's bags and wanded everyone. At 6:30pm we were ushered down to the Music Hall and the band was sitting at a table signing autographs. We were the last ones in line so we got to say a little bit more to the band than those before us. (We were kind of being hustled along by the HOB security.) At the table was Marco, Annette, Emppu, Jukka and Thomas.

We had been given a poster to get signed, but it was an HOB produced poster, not an official Nightwish poster, so thankfully we had brought the "Dark Passion Play" CD booklet and we had them sign the center where all their pictures are. We talked to Marco and told him that we had seen the band in November at Slim's in San Francisco. Kevin talked to him for a minute about the pros and cons of playing a small club. Anette asked where we had seen them before and we told her how glad we were that she was a part of the band now and that she was fantastic. By the time we got to Emppu the CD booklet was all the way down at Tuomas, so I looked at Emppu and just said, "Hi!" Next was Jukka and I gushed about how great a drummer he is! Then I told both Tuomas and Jukka that we had seen them in San Francisco and that we were glad to get to see them again. I asked them if they were going to play "Planet Hell" and they said no, not this tour. Tuomas said maybe next tour. We told them that we would just have to come again. We started to walk away, and then we suddenly thought we should ask to take a picture of the whole band together, but the HOB security would NOT let us go back, even though we were only a few feet away from the band. I was really disappointed that we had not thought of that sooner. Arg!

We went back upstairs and stood in line again. We also had to check our camera, as HOB did not allow cameras into the concert. At 7:00pm they let us back down to the Music Hall. We went down and were the second layer back from the center of the stage. We stood there for about a half an hour before the opening band, Sonic Syndicate, came out. They are a band out of Sweden. They have a drummer, two guitarists, a female bassist, and two singers. I use the term singer loosely, as they basically screamed into the microphone for a half an hour. We might have enjoyed them more if we could have understood a word they said. Actually, they spent more time telling us to spend money buying their CDs than the did singing. I am exagerating, but not by much. Apparently the guy in front of me knew their music though, as he nearly head-butted me a few times doing his head-banging. The sound was weird too, the bass was turned up so loud that we could hardly hear the guitars at all. All we could hear was the bum-bum-bum-bum-bum of the bass. They were done and then there was a half an hour set change.

At 8:30pm Nightwish came out! The whole audience just came alive, jumping up and down, singing along with the band from the moment they started the first song! This time I knew a lot more of the words to all the different songs so I was able to sing along even more than before! It was great! Musically, the band had made some changes. One, I think Annette knows more of the older songs now, so there were quite a few more of the older songs in the concert (The Siren, Wishmaster, Dark Chest of Wonders, Nemo, Sleeping Sun, Higher Than Hope, I Wish I Had an Angel, and, I think, Ever Dream). She put her own voice to them, or in other words, it was obvious she wasn't trying to sing them the way that Tarja did. Annette did a fantastic job! (I recently heard that in the last week or so she had done her 100th concert with the band! Congrats to Annette! Here's to hundreds more!) Two, there were more keyboard in some songs, and more guitar in others. For example, Emppu was out playing an acoustical guitar with Marco on The Islander, instead of just Marco. They seem to have added a lot more SOUND! It was great!

From their newest album, they also sang Bye Bye Beautiful, The Poet and the Pendulum, Amaranth, Sahara, Whoever Brings the Night and The Islander.

It is obvious that they were having a blast! On the bigger stage they had a lot more room, and a lot more fun! It was really different being so close to the stage. In San Francisco we stood off to the side, but here we could see the whole stage and it was awesome! We got a few photos on our cell phone, which aren't as great as the photos we got in San Francisco, but at the same time, we got to enjoy the whole concert rather than focusing on taking photos.

Being down in front was a totally different for another reason. (This is my only negative comments about this concert!) Actually I had two separate experiences that were good and bad. I was actually amazed that we had not been crushed as the audience surged forward when the band came out. I was pleasantly surprised that everyone seemed to stay put. Kevin was standing behind me for the whole concert. But then after the first few songs a very tall, sturdy girl came pushing her way up to the front of the crowd, pushed from behind by a bigger guy. This tall girl completely squished a much smaller, petite girl who was standing next to me. The small girl was crying and scared. I turned to the tall girl and yelled to her that she was squishing this girl. She looked at me as if she could have cared less. It was frustrating to me, as I wanted to be able to help this small girl, but I had come to enjoy this concert, not referee a squishing match. The small girl texted someone on her phone and then disappeared. Kevin said that another guy had grabbed her from behind and had pulled her back a little bit behind him for the rest of the show. I really hope that she was able to enjoy it after that. As soon as that small girl moved though, the tall girl pushed forward to take her place. The next girl in front of her had to put her hands up on the barricades, around the shoulders of a girl standing in front of her, so that she didn't get squished as well. The tall girl kept pushing towards me, so I stood for the rest of the concert with my elbows out (which was hitting her right at her waist) and so if she pushed against me she got my elbow in her side. That didn't stop her from nearly hitting me in the head with her arm or from flicking her hair in my face when she was doing her head-banging. Kevin kept having to grab on to the straps of my backpack and put his arms over my shoulders so that the guy who was with her couldn't push in between us. It is really unfortunate that people can be so rude that they want to have things their way regardless of how it effects other people. (By the way, this girl did not have a wristband on, so she was pushing people out of the way who had paid extra to be where they were.) I don't feel that I got to enjoy the concert as much as I could have if I hadn't had to focus so much attention on keeping this girl from shoving me out of the way.

In contrast though, the lady who was in front of me, at one point in the concert turned to me and apologized because she thought she might have stepped on my toes. (She hadn't.) At the end of the concert I thanked her for being so considerate, in complete contrast to the rudeness I had experienced on the other side of me.

Okay, back to the fun stuff! Nightwish was out for an hour and a half! They said they were going to end, but then we all yelled and screamed and they came back out for a three song encore! I knew they couldn't be done because they hadn't sung, I Wish I had an Angel yet. They always sing that as their last song! Kevin always says, if the roadies aren't out there tearing stuff down, there is still a chance that they are going to come back out! When they all got together to bow they were RIGHT in front of us! Emppu was throwing guitar picks out into the crowd during the whole show, but at the end he was throwing a lot more and Marco threw some too. The big rude guy next to Kevin caught one during the show (which I think is a travesty of universal justice), but then at the end several went over our heads. When the room started to clear, Kevin looked down and one of them was right by his boot. Kevin picked that one up and then told me that he was pretty certain another one had dropped near us. When the row in front of us cleared, he looked under the barricade and there was the other one. We were excited, as each had Nightwish imprinted on the front, but on the back, one said Emppu Vuorinen and the other said, Marco Hietala. We got one from each!

We wanted to stand there and talk for a few minutes, but again, HOB security kind of hustled us out. (They were great, by the way, and very polite and professional.) Kevin and I went over to use the casino restrooms. We sat for awhile and watched people go by. That was a lot of fun. It is Vegas after all. After a few minutes we decided to walk over to the Luxor, for old times sake. (We stayed there twelve years ago on our honeymoon.) We walked through the shopping corridor which connects the two casinos and got a sandwich at the Luxor cafe. It was about 11:30pm when we walked back to the Mandalay Bay to go to our van and go back to the hotel. As we walked back through the shopping corridor, I kept having to ask Kevin to walk a little slower, as by now I had been standing or walking for six hours straight. I was wearing my mary jane 3 1/2" wedge heels. My feet were not killing me (I love you Rocket Dogs!!!), but they were on the painful side.

We got on the escalator to go down to the casino floor. When we had almost reached the bottom, I could see the entrance to the Music Hall and there were several people standing by the door. In amongst all the black t-shirts I saw a little bit of blonde. I let go of Kevin's hand and RAN across the casino floor. Kevin said it was like I had been shot out of a gun! Suddenly my feet didn't hurt so much any more. As I reached the door, I realized I was right. It was Marco standing there talking to some of the fans! As I got closer I saw Jukka too! (Don't tell any of the other band members, but if I had to pick, I would say that Marco and Jukka are my favorite members of the band!) There they were, right in front of me! Marco was getting his picture taken with a girl about Amanda's age and her mom, and when they moved, I motioned to Marco to see if I could come up and get my photo taken. He put his arm out and I stood next to him and Jukka stood on my other side and I got a picture with both of them! (This almost made up for the fact that we didn't get a picture of the whole band!) Kevin said he doesn't think I smiled that big at our wedding. (Kevin knows I love him more than 20 Marcos or Jukkas!)

With that we went to the hotel! It was nearly one o'clock, and I may have been acting like a teenager for the last six hours, but our parents-of-three-kids bodies were all tired out!

In September, Nightwish is going to be back in San Francisco (12th) and Los Angeles (13th) . . .hmmm! Need we even say it!

See all the pics HERE.