Gaaa! Sara Tagged Me!

Man, I thought that I was immune to this stuff! Crap. Now I actually have to think...

Name 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions / collections, 3 random / surprising facts about yourself - then tag 3 people.

3 Joys
Religion
Family
Friends
3 Fears
The plains. You know, big, open ground with no mountains. Where do you run for cover?
Someone in my family (especially Justin) getting in a fatal accident
Spiders... they're creepy, alright? ;)
3 Current Obsessions
Writing
Making movies
Photography
3 Random/Surprising Facts
I've never seen an ocean. (SF bay, yes, but not the ocean)
I've never been east of the Rockies.
My favorite movie is a little, unknown Harrison Ford movie called Six Days, Seven Nights.

As with Sara, this is also my first tag, so I'll tag... Jamie, Camille, and Jody. HA! Now you have to think! ;-D

Paice Family Get Together

For the past few years, the Paice side of my family has had an annual "get together" up at Camp Success. We don't really like to call it a reunion, as that implies that we have to actually organize some sort of activity. It is always very relaxing and very fun. This year we joked that there were more dogs than children. There are at least six dogs in the picture below and we were still missing two.

Here is the picture I took of everyone that was present. I used my ten second timer and couldn't believe how good this picture turned out. Some of us may not be smiling, but we at least had our eyes open. We were missing two of my uncles and a few cousins and spouses due to jobs and other obligations, but I still think we had a pretty decent turn out.

This is my Uncle George's family. Clearly, quite a few of his children, as well as his spouse, were not there this year. Many of them had just started new jobs and couldn't get the time off. :-(

This is my Aunt Gayle's family. She was missing one of her son's and his family. That's why I made it look like there was a hole there when I cropped the picture.

This is my Uncle Wayne's family. Two of his sons weren't present, but all of their grandkids were. Lucky Grandma and Grandpa! (Slight sarcasm is intended;-)

Here's my family's picture. I had to photoshop it a little to make mom smile and dad's smile look more like a smile instead of a grimace. But it all worked out in the end. One of these days, we're going to have to have a proper family picture.
And finally, here is the funny-face picture of the great grandkids (of my grandma and grandpa) who were there.

P.S. Uncle Frank, if you're reading this, it's been four years and my husband still hasn't met you... we need to come see you... definitely...

Pine Valley Family Reunion - the rest

Here are the rest of the pics I promised...

Happy Birthday Grandma and Juliet! We tried to persuade Jim to join in, as it's his birthday this month too, but he wouldn't.

I found this humorous... JD has the entire slice of cake on his fork. That's how he was eating it.

And, finally, here's Lizzy with her "important papers."

Pine Valley Family Reunion - Veyo Pool

Last weekend marked the annual Mark Campbell Family Reunion in Pine Valley. Here are some of the pictures from the Veyo Pool.

Jack and Elizabeth decided to play under the table with dirt. They were filthy!

Jamie and Jack lounging next to the pool. It was really cute to see Jack imitate his mom by trying to lie down on an inflatable tube.

I really like this one of JD and Jake. I'm not really sure why... I think it has something to do with the way Jake is walking away from JD... I dunno...

I suggested to Merril that Maxine should take some diving classes. Seriously, take a look at the form this girl has in her cannon ball! I think we have an Olympian diver in the family;)

That's all for the pool. My next post will feature the talent show and the rest of the reunion.

More Photoshop Adventures...

This is a picture of my niece, Caroline. I was fooling around in Photoshop and ended up really liking this one, so I thought I'd share. I'm thinking of doing a "collection" of all my nieces and nephews in a style similar to this, so keep your eyes open!

Justin's Lily

Several weeks ago, Justin was spraying a lady's house in Diamond Valley. The lady's dog, which is half Pit bull half Labrador, had just had puppies the Monday previous. She didn't even know her dog was pregnant until she started dropping puppies. The mother dog isn't very old herself; this is her first batch of puppies and it was the first time she had ever been in heat. The father is a pure bred Pit bull. They were in separate, but adjoining kennels and the mom burrowed over to the dad's kennel. Since that time, the mom has quit feeding the puppies. Of course, that means that the puppies had to learn how to eat real food much sooner than they should have had to. But when the mom take care of them anymore and they are eating regular food, then they are ready to go to a new home.

The owner called Justin and told him that if he wanted one of these puppies, to come and have a look. So, on Thursday after work, we went over and scoped them out. That's were we found little Lily, here. She's not much older than four weeks, though Justin has yet to find the receipt for the owner so he can figure out how old she is exactly. Lily has become Justin's dog; a daddy's girl. She will come to me, but only if she can't hear or see Justin. It's wonderful having a puppy that smells and acts and fattens up like a puppy.
All the research that we have done says that Pit bulls are great with people, but not with other dogs (at least the ones they don't grow up around). Though, one very pro Pit bull site did say that if they show aggression or intolerance to people, then they should be put down. We are hoping that her Lab side will show more than the Pit bull, but all in all, she's still cute!

He's Back...

Okay, so it's been nearly ten days since Chris go back from his mission... I've been a bit busy. Chris landed in Reno at almost 11:00am on the 23 of May. My family and some of Chris's friends all went to see him at the airport.

(the kid over Justin's shoulder isn't Harry Potter, though we always tease him that he looks like him!;)
After we collected his luggage, Chris decided that the place he wanted to go to lunch was The Macaroni Grill. For anyone that hasn't been to a Macaroni Grill, you are missing out! You definitely need to make some time to go there.

He was released later that same day. We all had fun, even though it rained the entire time we were up there. One of Chris's friends brought his Xbox 360 and his Wii and we played video games late into the night. On Sunday, he reported to the ward. Justin and Chris sang Redeemer of Israel in Portuguese while I played the piano.
Chris is excited to be home, but doesn't really know what he is going to do. He's looking into several options, but says that he will definitely be down to visit this summer.
It's kind of weird for me not to have a brother on a mission. Oh well, two more years and Alex will be going, so I can worry all over again!