A Little Hike to Celebrate Austin Finishing Finals & 2nd Yr. Med School

Austin finished his last final, and his second year of medical school! He and Rachel celebrated by joining us for a half-day hike through Whiting Ranch.

We started at the weather-vane statute by Ralph's Parking lot,
at the entrance to Whiting Ranch.

Today's happy hikers: Rachel, Austin, Dylan and Christian

The December 2010 rains caused severe mudslides in the park.
The gate and fence were buried about 3-4 feet deep, requiring a detour.

Christian and Dylan on the trail.
Dylan is a great hiker.
Dylan kept a close watch for the animals in the park.
"Where are the animals?" he kept saying...

Parts of the trail looked like the beach, with all the sand washed down from the hillside slopes.
You can see the threatened homes and yards in the background, with plastic placed to forestall further erosion.

It was hot and Dylan was thirsty. Here's where Dylan and Christian turned back, and Jeff, Rachel and Austin pushed onward up to the top of "4 Corners,"
then down the "Dreaded Hill" trail.

At 4 Corners, close to the top of the park.

View from the top of the Dreaded Hill Trail.
This is the memorial park bench, dedicated to the memory
of a mountain biker who was killed nearby by a mountain lion.

Great hike and Great Company!

Back Yard Reconstruction Completed

We finished our backyard reconstruction last week. We have five new trees in a new planter around the outside of the yard: Clementine, improved Meyer Lemon, Washington Navel Orange, Little Cado Avocado, and Babcock Peach. All are dwarf varieties, so they don't overtake the yard (we hope).

New lawn!

Princess surveys her domain.
Not seen: new sprinkler layout, plus at least 7 new drains to deal with any excess water in the yard.

View from the southwest end of the yard.
Plastic covers the HOA slopes, awaiting their mudslide reconstruction.

We put shade-loving plants in the southwest corner of the yard, leading to the side yard.

April Visit from Shawn, Jill & Family

We had a wonderful weekend visit from Shawn & Jill and family--in town this week for a Spring Break. In between sessions of General Conference, we had a fun get-together, with Austin/Rachel and Christian/Katie/Kids coming by for hot dogs and hamburgers.

Grandma Robyn, with Baby Bennett on her lap.

Jeff and Audrey, Robyn and Bennett, on the front porch

Since Olivia and Audrey are in town for a Cheer Competition, we were treated to a demonstration on the front lawn.
(It had to the front lawn, since the back yard is still under reconstruction.)

The Serenity Sisters, Jill and Robyn
Serene amongst all the action and energy of the younger ones.

Audrey and Olivia mugging for a photo
Back yard still dug up, but not for long.
A few minutes before, Audrey spotted a coyote trotting behind the fence, carrying its lunch (a squirrel)--very exciting

Rachel, Bennett and Katie

It didn't take long for the boys to find the rocks, mud and sticks in the back yard!
Adam and Dylan got along famously.

Wyatt and Austin

Christian & Shawn

Robyn's Baltimore Trip--To Present Research "Poster" at National Conference

Robyn recently returned from her trip to Baltimore, Maryland. She presented a poster at a national Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Conference summarizing the preliminary results of her ongoing research project.

Robyn designed and wrote this poster.
It displays the results of her "feeding team" at CHOC-- a multidisciplinary medical team that successfully replaces abdominal feeding tubes used by medically fragile children with ordinary feeding by mouth, blessing lives of their patients and families.

GREAT JOB, ROBYN!

Ryan's Mission Call Arrives!

On Thursday, March 24, 2011 Ryan's mission call arrived! Ryan arranged for a video chat--friends and family from BYU/Provo (Ryan), Palos Verdes (Grandpa Steve & Grandma Marion), to Bountiful (Grandma Joyce; Wyatt/Marissa, etc.), to Baltimore (Robyn was attending a conference there), to Long Beach/LA (Rachel), etc. all linked up by computer, cellphone and land line. Ward members came over. Christian did the honors, opening the envelope while Dylan sat on his lap and watched, and Katie videotaped it all... It was chaotic and exciting and loud and noisy and exiting...

San Antonio, Texas! Spanish speaking!! Reporting in late July!!
Ryan was excited and we were all pleased for him.

Here's the group at our house: Jim Murri and Chris Carroll, youth leaders from the ward.
Dylan, Austin, Christian, Katie, Stephen
Bennett asleep downstairs.
Austin holding some of the phones that people called in from.
Thanks to all for your love and support.

GREAT JOB, RYAN!

Projects around the house...

Starting some projects:

Back Yard Repair and Restoration--from the mudslide
This is a "before" picture. Contractor coming; stand by for "after" pictures in a few weeks.

Princess' Pathetic Path in the backyard--soon to be fixed.

Just Finished:

Today's score: Jeff-2; Sinks -0
I cleaned out the sink traps in the upstairs bathroom.
The metal down pipe sheared when I removed the plastic trap. Amazingly, I was able to fix it with a part from the local Big Box home repair store.

Another big project completed.
After many years on the wish list, we finally installed rain gutters and drain pipes on the house. This will help with yard drainage in future rainstorms. We had a few sprinkles last night--just enough to prove that the rain goes down the spouts, and not splash on the sidewalks, sideyards, and house. These should keep the paint job so laboriously applied by the Robinson Family Painting Crew looking great much longer.

Thanks to Darell Outhier and an Opinion

We're in mudslide repair mode, and we thank Darell Outhier for helping us clean and repair the air conditioners. It turned out to be a hard, muddy, job--and Darell made it look easy. We love hearing about the Outhier family when he's here. (Our thoughts and prayers with you this week for Betty's passing.)

We had several inches of mud and debris clogging the cooling coils, etc.
An action shot--Darell knew just what to do.
He did technical stuff, while I dug a trench for the mud and water.

On a completely different subject:

I read this essay by George Will (courtesy of the Newsweek Magazine which Mom and Dad send us at work--thanks!)
Its called High Speed Insolvency--Why Liberals Love Trains

Why do we borrow BILLIONS of dollars to build trains to take us from Point A to Point B more slowly, and at higher cost, than airplanes, and that almost no one uses?
He thinks he has the answer.
What do you think?