Feliz Dia dos Pais!

It's grand to be a father. And a good Father's Day it was. Natalie sang in church with her cute little bouncy face poking out in front of all the primary kids. After we got home it was lunch, presents (thanks for the great gifts) and a good long nap. Mom and Natalie baked a chocolate cake which we enjoyed with a feast of strawberry smoothies, popcorn, and apples. I have to say that I have the best, cutest, smartest, most loving, and did I say cutest girls in the whole world. I've been blessed to have such a great father and can only hope to measure up to him, and be a better father each day. It's good to have a companion by my side that's eager to help me to become better. With such an awesome set of females in my home though it's going to be hard to ever measure up to them. Happy Father's day dad.

Natalie trying out dad's shoes. She might be able to water ski in those things.

Strawberry fields

About a month ago we visited a produce farm here in San Juan Capistrano for the girl's preschool field trip. We returned yesterday morning for some good ole fashioned strawberry pickin'. It's the end of the strawberry season and the farm lets people come in and for 99 cents/lbs you can pick as many strawberries as you want. And they are the sweetest berries we've ever tasted. All the girls from preschool were there with their families a'pickin' berries in the fields. It was a cool gray day and a little drizzely but it was fun regardless. Natalie and Emily did great helping to pick berries and to catch bugs. Emily would take a few bites out of a berry, put it in her basket, pick another one out, take a few bites, put it in her basket, and so on. We kept finding berries with little bites in them when we were cleaning them. We picked one whole row, and got about 14 pounds of berries. There was still a ton left but we had no more room. Anyone want some strawberry jam?

Books!

Padre here. I've been trying to keep busy with all the projects I've been meaning to do but haven't had time with school. I've been in limbo since graduation and I got kicked out of the studios prematurely (the school needed the space and I was on my way out anyways. "Don't let the door hit you on the behind!") One of the things I've been meaning to do is bind my sketchbook papers. I use to draw on loose sheets of typing paper. I have stacks of papers with sketches on them from 2001 to the present. So I thought I should bind them into hardcover books. We did some book binding back at BYU, but very little actual binding. I borrowed some books and read some DIY stuff and thought myself ready for the task. I had many epic failures in the process of creating these, but it was enjoyable and worthwhile to learn this new skill. One of the big things was that I bought the wrong kind of fabric for my covers and had a struggle trying to get them to fold and glue right. I did make my own paper press which made things much easier when gluing the spines. I don't know if I'll use this fabulous skill again anytime soon, but it's there. I ended up making five books of old sketches, and one slipcase for an old favorite book "Landscape Painting" by Birge Harrison (1901).

Beach day

Last week we had to head off to the beach to enjoy the sun and surf. We went with some friends and roasted hot dogs and smores over a bonfire. We went to Doheny beach which is a great beach for the ninos and for surfing too. It was fun to take some time together, play in the sand, eats smores (smore of what? You're killing me Smalls...) and take advantage of our beautiful locale.

Preschool Graduation (sort of)

Yeah, Natalie is getting smarter and older. We had the preschool "graduation" this last week. Really only one girl is going on to Kindergarten but we wanted to celebrate another year well done. These moms do a great job of putting together an awesome program for these girls. It's nice to be done, and yet it's sad for Natalie to not be able to hang out with these little mug-wumps every week. They are now pros at ABC's, counting to infinite, and hand-to-hand combat. Well done graduates! The future is yours. (The song on the video was one they learned around Christmas and they wanted to sing it. We didn't get the video of them singing "My Country Tis of Thee", which is more holiday appropriate for this time of year)

Zoomars fun!

After dad picked up his paintings from his thesis show we headed to Zoomars for some animal pettin' fun. Emily loves to see dogs walk by and wants to pet anything that moves, so this was a great place for her to go. They have a guinea pig and bunny pen with at least a zillion little guys running around. She squealed and chased after them as much as she could. Natalie and Emily enjoyed feeding the little things and playing on the playground. All that topped off with In-and-Out burger for dinner makes for a happy day. (Don't worry Grandma, we washed our hands before eating)

Graduation present

I think that I found a great graduation present. Who wouldn't give their left pinky to have Jay's garage? I know I would...

Last Day of Preschool

This was the last week of preschool and Mary was in charge of the girls. The last day was bubble fun and we headed outside for some good old bubble blowin'. Natalie will sure miss hanging out with her friends everyweek for preschool.

Olives

This week we took a trek inland to just east of Temecula (that's wine country folks!). Mary wanted to take some pictures of olive trees for her book she's illustrating "The Allegory of the Olive Tree." This was a nice trip for us all to take and see a real olive orchard in operation. It was the Temecula Olive Oil Company. It's a beautiful area, with hills all around and a wonderful breeze working it's way up the valley from the ocean. One of the owners of the place was kind enough to meet with us and talk to us about olives and their oil. Mary got the pics she needs and we got a little field trip out of the deal. The girls zonked out on the way home of course.