Our day with Lainie

This is my friend Lainie. My friends Aaron and Jenae let Mark and I babysit her- it was so much fun. She was so cute, we had to share some pictures. We're going backward though...this was after playing for a few hours- she was pretty much ready for a nap as you can see.
At first I put some snacks in a little bowl for her, but it was too fun watching them all scatter all over the floor when she threw the bowl. We went to ziplock bags after that. Then it was more fun to just eat the fishies. We also put one of her DVDs on...she is in the zone. It was so funny. She would just sit in a daze in front of the TV ...then dance a little with the songs...daze a little more...etc. So cute!

This is my favorite part. When Aaron and Jenae came over the first time, Lainie discovered my stool. (It stays in the kitchen and is pretty much my favorite kitchen item!) Well, Lainie seeemed to like the stool even more than I do. When she was dropped off she got super excited and as soon as Aaron put her down, she booked it for the stool. She entertained herself with the little stool for at least an hour. It was so funny...and cute. She would just run it back and forth and whatever.


Thanks, Aaron and Jenae for letting us play with Lainie! :)

Grandpa Nettleship

Well, I wanted to share with everyone something that I recently found. While applying to the University of Utah medical school, I was searching through their page and I had an idea. I wondered if the university had a picture of Grandpa Nettleship in their archives since he was a professor there. So I did a search and sure enough, the university archives had to pictures of him. One is from 1962 and the other from 1965. So, I ordered a copy of them and they scanned them in and emailed it to me. So, here are the pictures and if you want a copy, you can try downloading them (click on them first to get a bigger picture), or leave a comment with your email address and we'll send it off to you. Hope you all enjoy.

Creating Memories In Seattle

Mom has been wanting to take a family picture for many years- we finally got one! We went to the temple and had someone take this picture for us.

After the temple we went to Red Robin for lunch- nice picture of mom and dad.

Shaun and I have a special spot we used to go to together. We would drive over to Poulsbo and go to the bakery and chocolate store near the waterfront. It was our secret getaway whenever one of us needed to escape or just get out of the house.

Here are some quick poses at the waterfront.


One of Shaun's favorite donuts are the men sold at the bakery....here he is just before he devours it.

Well, it took us a while to finally post some pictures...but we hope you enjoy! :)

Museum of Flight

We spent a day at the Museum of Flight while in Washington. It was pretty cool...here are some fun pictures.


The first thing we did was a flight simulation. Mark took this picture- it was the height requirements for pilot, co-pilot, and passenger. Yes, I passed all requirements! :)


Before getting into the simulation, you get to practice piloting. Here are the boys in training.

Buckle up, get ready for the ride.

Afterward...it was fun. Mark piloted us the entire time. My favorite part was flipping in circles.

Just some random pics...


Mark in some of the aircrafts....



This was a manikin.

Pilots' chambers of a commercial airline.

Mark dreamed of being an astronaut when he was little...he wanted to go up in space...this is the best we can do for now...

The Lunar Rover

No more dreaming of a White Christmas...

We spent Christmas in Washington this year. It was the first time all three of us Vidinhar keikis (kids) were home together in 5 years...it was a special time. We had a lot of fun- cooking with dad, watching movies, relaxing, and Mark even had his first white Christmas (well that he can remember).

First off, Christmas day....Each year it's tradition that we open presents and dad begins cooking an amazing meal- it is an all day affair in the kitchen. This year he decided to make my favorite- Chinese Pot Roast Chicken. I decided to take some cooking lessons from the master chef himself.

Alright, daddy-o...I'm ready!

Everything has to be done absolutely perfectly- the master chef will accept nothing less than perfection. Here he is showing me exactly how to cut the carrots- let's just say he makes it look very easy but it's far from easy. But it was an honor to have lessons and exciting to learn.

Chad and Shaun can't be near each other for more than 5 minutes without some wrestling. This was a very common occurance throughout the entire 2 weeks.

Quick Kodak moment- Mark's white Christmas...although it's hard to see the snowflakes falling, they were. There was actually record snow falls in Washington while we were there- the last time there was that much snow on Christmas day was in 1861- so much for leaving Utah to escape the snow.

Presents time....

Later on in the day...just messing around in the house. The sweater I am wearing under the vest was a Christmas present from Mark.

After Christmas.... The day after Christmas was spent taking down all Christmas decorations and dad and the boys shoveling the driveway. The next day we shoveled the easement. This is us after the shoveling, stopping for the pose.


Funny story....mom, Chad, Shaun, Mark and I all shoveled the entire easement for about 2 hours. We finally finished and dad showed up with a plow truck. Not so funny at the time...but very entertaining now.

View of most of the easement we shoveled.

Mom made us pose for a picture after...then Shaun threw me into the snow. A snowball fight followed.

Snow angel.

Say cheese....


Well although we wanted to escape the snow, it was still a blast in Washington! We hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year!

Thanksgiving

Ok, we know that its a little late, but we are making up for it with pictures; there's over a hundred. If anyone wants higher resolution versions of the pictures, just let us know. Anyway, for Thanksgiving, Jodie and I drove down to Phoenix to spend it with my family. We left the Saturday before Thanksgiving because I had to interviews for med school, one in Phoenix on Monday and one in Tucson on Wednesday. So, here's a few pictures of the ride down.

After 6 hours of driving, we arrive at one of the best places on earth... Lake Powell. Here's some of the cliffs just north of the lake.

Jodie and I decided to get out at Glen Canyon Dam and stretch our legs a little bit. Here's a picture of the bridge that crosses over the colorado river to get to Page.
Us at an overlook spot.
Here's a picture to show just how big the dam is; we even got a picture with a tour group walking on top of the dam for a reference.
We went out along the bridge and took this shot of the full height of the dam. I'm not sure how tall exactly it is, but our boat's depth gauge says there is about 600 feet of water on the other side.
Here's the other side of the dam, or the beginnings of the Grand Canyon. Very pretty view shot from on the bridge.
Here's a picture of the river side during one of the worst floods they've had. The water was almost about to overcome a thirty foot extension built on top of the dam. They also had all the spillways open, the smaller streams of water, and two jet powered spillways open. Kind of crazy how much water there is.

At the bottom of the dam, they have a grass field. Apparently the workers will have picnics and activities on the grass.
Back on the road again.
Jodie's attititude about getting back in the car for 4 more hours- which also reflected how I felt inside too.
Here's one of my favorite spots on the trip down. The highway is cut through the rock and then opens up to a cliff that allows for an amazing view.
Going through the chasm.
The view on the otherside. Not nearly as impressive as on a clear day, but you can still see some of the finger offshoots of the Grand Canyon.
Well, that was the drive. After 10 hours of driving, we both were very glad to get out of the car. However, when we arrive in Phoenix, we arrive perfectly to catch the last half of the BYU vs Utah football game. And sadly to say, Dad had lots of reasons to brag about his team, it wasn't pretty for us.

On Monday morning, I went to the Phoenix campus of U of A's med school. I had an interview there and it went well. They have some very nice facilities and it really impressed me.

On Monday night, we went with my brother and his family to my mom's house for an early Thanksgiving dinner. The food was very delicious and the company was even better. So, here's some of the pictures we took, which sad to say, weren't too many.
Here's James, at this time he was trying to sing popcorn popping on the apricot tree while saying cheese for the picture. Needless to say, very cute.
James, once again, is the center of attention.
I thought that this was pretty impressive, James would take Robert's iPod and play a turkey hunt game. He did very well at it too, like got to level 12 or something. Easy to tell who his dad is.
Then on Tuesday, we went down to my dad's office and Jodie had her eyes checked. I figured that this would be a great time to take a picture, she couldn't move to hide at all.

Next stop we made was to the Gelato Spot, one of the most amazing ice cream stores on the planet. Besides being very delicious, they have the best selection of sorbet that I have ever seen. This is definitely handy for us because milk products don't get along with Jodie very well. So, we went to the gelato spot a grand total of three times while we were in Phoenix.
Then on Wednesday, we sent out early to spend the day in Tucson. It was a nice trip though, but with rain on and off throughout the whole time down. However, it did provide us with a very pretty sunrise and sky for our trip.
After I had my interview, which went very well. Jodie and I spent the day getting familiar with Tucson incase we end up moving down there for school. At the end of the day, we met up with my brother John and went to PF Chang's for a celebration dinner for being done with the two interviews.

Then, we had Thanksgiving. It was a banquet of great foods with a total of 10 pies- I was in heaven. But anyway, here's the pictures.

Here are the boys building up an appetite by playing some mario kart on the wii. James and I are playing with some marbles and I have to admit, I think I was having a much fun as he was.
Here's the table waiting for us.
Here's one of the turkeys we cooked, it tasted really good.
Here we are trying to carve up the turkey.
Jodie made some amazing place settings. The feathers are from James' hand, pretty impressive for a two year old.
A picture of the kitchen hard at work getting everything ready.
Here are the girls enjoying some time in the sun.
Ok, so after the amazing Thanksgiving dinner, we went and played crochet. This is a traditional Thanksgiving game that gets pretty intense and cut throat by the end of the game. But anyway, as we got to the park, Jenna ran to go play on the pull up bars. So, here she is.
Setting up the course


Ok, so when we got started play, per the usual, Dad took a quick early lead.The girls posing for a picture.
Here's a picture of Thomas trying to get through the first hoop.
John's attempt.
There's not much room for error with our hoops; they are solid cast iron (the box in the back weighs a ton when fully loaded). So, here's John trying to get through the hoop again. However, as you will notice, the blue ball (mine) is no longer around the first hoop. Woohoo.
Here's Jodie battlling it out with Robert, the red ball, to get through the second hoop. However, she was at a serious disadvantage because the mallet was so tall.
John getting through the second hoop.
While Dad was getting through the fourth hoop (still in first place), Robert and Emily attacking each other around the second hoop.
Finally, the rest of us catch up to the fourth hoop.
Emily makes her come back from battling it out with Robert; wedding rings even came off during the heat of the moment.
Robert and John protected each others' interests around the fourth hoop.
As did Jodie and Jenna

Emily takes a commanding swing to get back into the game after being knocked away by Robert.
Here's a picture of dad reaching the pin first and becoming the first poison ball.
Dad, not wanting to single out one son for attack (Thomas, Robert, and I are hiding behind the hoop for protection), Dad closes his eyes and hits toward us. However, he hit the ball too hard and goes out of bounds and is the first to leave the game.
Thomas and Robert then battle each other as poison balls.
Both quickly were eliminated and found other ways to occupy their time.
Jodie made a long attempt to get Jenna, but fell just short. So, Jenna hit Joddie's ball and the game quickly came to an end.
Three monkeys.
The next day, John, Dad, Jodie, and I went out Jeeping. It was an awesome ride. But here are the shots.



At this point, John took over for a little bit and started taking us through the desert.

A picture of my arch nemesis, the Jumping Cholla. They are a very sneaky cactus and very prickly. The spines have little barbs on them like fish hooks. It's a nasty little cactus.
We got out for a little break to enjoy the view.

Our chariot.
Jodie exploring the cactus.




Posing for a shot after climbing the boudlers.
Next, we took a little detour from the road and followed a wash of some sorts. But here's the trail.
We climbed about 200 feet up and then had to turn around because it was too muddy to climb further. That became a very interesting adventure as we began sliding while trying to turn around. But we made it safely. Here we are coming down the mountain, it was pretty steep.


Still coming down our trail.
Johnny boy navigating.
I took the wheel and had some fun coming down the rest of the path.


Here, you can see the skeleton of a dead Saguaro cactus.

The road also took us through a creek bed for a little bit.







Through the trail, I tried to get a picture of the water splashing up as we went through the water. So, this was the best one I could get. The water is completely covering the windshield. I didn't think it was going to be that much.

Finally home.

Next step, wash the Jeep.

On Saturday night, we all decided to go to the Mesa temple lights. So, here's the pictures from that.

Here's James, ready to go see the lights.

Here we are arrive at the temple.


I really liked the Bethlehem scene this year, the lights they chose for the star were very, very bright.


Classic pose.

Nice shot of the front of the temple; I love the reflection.
Jodie and I posing in front of the temple.


My favorite palm tree, it was blue.
Another one of my favorites, the wisemen.
They also had an international nativity exhibit. I've seen it before, but every year they have different nativities from around the world. Its very pretty. But here was one of our favorites.

Jodie and I infront of the Christus.

Well, I hope that everyone enjoyed all the pictures and had a great Thanksgiving.