The Jay Rockwood Family: 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

It's Christmas shopping time again, only 31 shopping days left, very scary!

Here it is:

LAST year 2007

Jailynn to Nathan
Bryce to Katie
Andy to Jailynn
Nate to Bryce
Katie to Andy

THIS YEAR 2008!

Jailynn to Andy
Bryce to Nathan
Andy to Katie
Nate to Jailynn
Katie to Bryce

Merry Christmas!

Goodbye my pumpkin - Hope your not eating a snack right now

Since no one seems to be posting anything, I thought I would let you have a look at our yucky pumpkin.

We did not carve it - just sat it on the chair on the front porch for a little decoration. After Halloween some little critter would come during the night and nibble the pumpkin - I would turn the nibble part to the back but pretty soon it was just all nibble. There would also be a mess of pumpkin crumbs on the porch. I'm sure the mailman was getting grossed out.

Then the fuzzy stuff starting growing - I guess the critter was full of bad germs or whatever starts yucky fuzzy stuff. Finally I took some pictures and had to dispose of our poor pumpkin - he was suppose to make it through Thanksgiving - but NOPE

Better Stronger Faster

I was thinking I should let Nate make this post but I'm guessing it will be awhile so I'll go ahead and show off his handiwork for him. We all went up to the cabin on Saturday and had a good time. Simon slept and then ran around in the mud. I sat outside and read a book and watched Simon play in the mud. Nate and Carrie painted the porch. It was a nice a nice afternoon and hopefully the paint dried before the storm came in the next day.

The Finished Porch

Painting (Carrie's behind the railing)

The New Better Stronger Faster Cabin Porch

Katrina's Baptism

Just to let everyone know, Katrina will be baptised December 29th at 11:00, in California in Mom and Dad's Ward.

I told her that it is the same place that I was baptised in and Aunt Katie, Uncle Nathan, Uncle Andy, Uncle Bryce, Aunt Liz AND Aunt Carrie! (okay so the only ones NOT baptised there are Emily and Jerry and I guess Mom and Dad though Dad did most of the dunkings. So she is really excited!

Quick Cabin Trip

Nate, Carrie, Simon, and I all had a nice weekend at the cabin. Nate and I hiked Wolverine and barely made it home in the dark before the storm arrived. Nate was getting buzzed by bats in the dark and my knees hurt like crazy. I'm a new fan of those trekking poles though. I don't think I'd have made it home if Nate hadn't brought them. It was a great hike and surprisingly lonely for a Labor Day weekend. There were still some nice flowers near the top and absolutely no snow anywhere.

The next day we hiked over to get Andy's latest geocache and made a loop from the Twin Lakes trail over to the Solitude trail and back. Simon got to hike some of the way on his own since they didn't have his backpack and he seemed to really like it. The storm came in really strong that afternoon with machine gun hail and really close lightening.

Seems like we managed to squeeze a great cabin trip into two days. Hard hike, great food, big storm, a few naps, and game of balls.

In Memory of.....

Grandpa Jay Rockwood's Special Place.

It will remain a treasured and never forgotten memory in our hearts and noses forever.

We came upon this very sad and touching scene when we first arrived at the cabin. The boys removed their hats in respect (I should have got a picture of that) and we all dropped a tear or two (since we can no longer drop anything else there).

Jacob's sweet moves

That dance reminded me of some shots I got of Jacobs sweet moves up at Silver Lake.

This one is my favorite. Looks like Jacob taught Jim some new moves to do on the dancing rock.

Jacob's dance @ Silver Lake

We need a post

Thought I would add a little communication here - this blog has been on stand-still for too long.

It was fun to read A&E's 24th of July adventure - sounds fun. Also nice that Katie, Nate, Carrie and Simon were able to go to Clay's wedding reception. We look forward to eating more huckleberries this next trip - sounds like Jailynn & Katie got enough that they won't have to hoard them quite as diligently. (~:

Dad and I have had a boring August going into September. Going no where and having no visitors. Just: get up / live a day / go to bed. We look forward to our trip to Utah the first of October even if Dad will be in meetings part of the time.

Cataract Canyon Raft Trip

I'll post a few pictures from Katie and My rafting trip down the Colorado River.

The S-Rig!

The Lazy River Rat and infamous Granarys

If you don't know what's in the bag, ask Katie what we ate for lunch that day. She's seen it twice.

What's Happening in Colorado

Might need to turn the volume up 'cause it's kinda quiet.

(Can you guess? I'm using the camera from my bday!)

Last of the April Birthdays

We got to see Nato for his birthday. We got him a Hippity-Hop, for Simon to use, but I bet Nate tries it when no one is around. It made me remember when he was little on his spiderman hippity-hop bouncing like crazy with his hair flying up in the air.

The next night we went to Samantha's birthday party for a 3 course meal of smoky smoked sausage and potatoes and then ribs and then cake, the kids had the outside edges the adults all ate pieces from the middle. Samantha had a cake of her own that only she ate and she got it good.

Three Little Nipper @ one

This was a difficult time since Simon's ears were hurting him. I have one picture of Simon looking so sad it still makes me want to cry - plus the cute picture of him hiding and sleeping in the corner of the couch.

A Little of This & a Little of That

What new in San Jose:

The Roses are blooming like crazy. We went for a walk in the San Jose Rose garden Sunday afternoon. It was beautiful - so many roses. We have a few nice roses in our yard and lots and lots of other flowers -- big mess of yellow Columbines

We went on a drive Saturday afternoon - after Dad came home from teaching a workshop - we drove alone the coast - had lunch in an old place in Pescadero - it was so crowded! We had to wait 20 minutes to get a seat - we almost said yes to a seat in the Tavern - but as we followed the waitress into the room we found it was wall to wall black leather and bandannas. So we waited. We had actually seen the wearers of this attire - at least 200 of them - no kidding - We had to wait for them to pass before we made a left turn (picture) then we drove behind them for several miles coming into the city.

We ended up at Phil's for dinner - seeing lots of things on the drive. The Boardwalk was packed as full as a summer day - difficult to find parking places all along the drive. Guess it's summer in California.

Here are a few new facts that you may or may not be aware of:

Several beaches have rivers right now so you have to do some wading to get to the water -- at natural bridges the little lake is a big lake and the river out of it goes all the way to the 'bridges'.

There is a new car bridge to "Phil's" - no more one car bridge.

The prices at Phil's are still way too high. Won't be going there very often

There is no more Castro Middle School - only one Middle School: "Moreland Middle School" - it is where Castro was - the other Middle school is not being used.

The Beehive Book store moved to a little place in the strip mall behind "Goodies Restaurant". They sold the other property - new owners

Century 24 is gone - the one by Toys R Us.

There is finally a Pizza Place where the old Pizza place was on Campbell - It's now a Round Table - we haven't been there.

Well, guess that's all I can think of right now.

Oh - and we did find a few geo's on our travels - It can be so frustrating - I won't go into that one. Here's a picture of Dad writing a sign in at a find in the bushes at Rosicrucian Museum. (sorry it's sideways - don't know how to turn it now)

Have a good day - write more - post more pictures.
-

Bryce's house?

It looks like the Google car won't drive down streets that aren't on their maps. Is this your neighborhood, Bryce?

April almost over - two birthdays to go

"The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day. When the sun is out and the wind is still, You're one month on in the middle of May. But if you so much as dare to speak, a cloud come over the sunlit arch, And wind comes off a frozen peak, And you're two months back in the middle of March." - Robert Frost

This poem has certainly been true. Next year we should record what the weather is like on each of the April birthdays - some were winter, others spring and even summer.