On my way

This morning I looked at my mileage meter on my bike and it read 226 miles. I am well on my way to making my goal for the year. It will be easy to put that many miles in as the weather warms up and I don't have to bundle up to go for a bike ride!

My family took me to Ruby River for my birthday, Roger and Pam gave us gift certificates to go there. At the end of the meal, Tonya put her arm around me and asked the waiter what humiliating things they do for people on their birthdays. He said we don't sing, which was a relief, and then brought a big piece of ice cream cake, which the family devoured. I thought I got off easy, until he brought the fifty gallon hat for a picture. I will scan that in later.

Taylor is currently at 300 cookie boxes sold. Although recently she has been picking up steam, so hopefully she will meet her goal.

Happy Birthday!

Today is Scott's birthday! He is turning 35 today! We don't have too much planned by way of celebration...He has tickets to a Dixie State basketball game tonight and he is taking Shaylie! It will be their first of the season, even though he is a season ticket holder. Tomorrow night, he is taking Taylor...In the meantime, she is planning her long-promised sleepover party (if any of her friends can come.)
So, I love you Scott! Happy Birthday! You are the best!

My GP38-2

The engine I won on E-Bay finally arrived today. It is a great engine and it runs REALLY well. I hope I don't mess it up. Here is a picture of it.


Eventually it will hopefully look like this: Click here

Table Built

James saved me with the power tools, as he had a drill press so that the bolt holes were straight! He also had a couple of great suggestions to make the table more stable. Now my train table is 40 inches tall, which makes it eye level when I am sitting down, which makes it great to watch! I'm going to play with it for a few days (that is why I put all the power poles on, I think it's neat) Then I will pull everything off the table and put the foam insulation on so that I can build the lakes and rivers into it. Then we will put the track back on the foam and start building the mountains, hills and tunnels. Here is a great picture of it. Hopefully someday it will look like a neat scene.

Staying Home

As much as I wanted to go to the train show, I think we need to stay home and work on stuff here, namely, my train set. I am going to try and get the lumber to build mine into a table. I have worked out the track layout I want to have; It will hold 5 trains with 2 running at the same time. I am pretty excited about it.

I joined the local model train club. It looks like it is going to be fun. I went to one of the guy's house and you can't believe the train set he has. It is in the storage room of his garage. It is on three levels and it goes everywhere. He even has track wrapped around his water heater to get from one level to another! I'm sure that he had at least twenty trains set up on it and several more on shelves. His engines where computer programmed, so he can run several trains on the same track. I don't think I will ever be to that level (for one thing, I would never spend that much money on anything)

If all goes well, I will have pictures up of it later...

Possible Trip

There is a HUGE train show in Salt Lake on Saturday and Sunday. Taylor and I may go up to it for the Saturday Show. Tonya sings a solo in church on Sunday, so we will definately have to be back for that, so this would be a quick trip up. Haven't decided anything yet, so more information to follow...

Test Complete

Now you know what it feels like when we go to your blogs and see nothing new :P

We have been super busy lately, trying to catch up and get back settled in. My file servers are running decently, and I have been able to run regular backup and repairs on them. I have redone both of my computers in my office, so everything feels fresh and new.

Tonya found one of her articles on the web site, I am sure that you received an email about that. She was writing her new ones for this month yesterday. We have to get her video filmed and sent in with her application soon, we watched another episode last night and she really wants to be on the show.

Taylor got a "way to go" award from her teacher at school. She has been trying her best to be happy, and for the most part, she has been. She kept getting up late last night, so we will see how well she does today. Shaylie tested at a level 3 reading level, if I understand correctly, that means she can read at a first grade level! :D

Last week we had a night out with our friends. We went with the Sabitais's, the Terry's, and the Sefort's. We went and saw a movie and then went to Blue Bunny for ice cream (I had the sugar free kind of course) We sat and talked for quite a long time.

On Monday, we had Mommy-Daughter, Daddy-Daughter Date Night (MDDDDN). Tonya and Shaylie went up to the "D" on the side of the hill, went to Panda Express and came home to watch movies, however, Anissa broke down and they went to rescue them. Taylor and I went to Applebee's (no she didn't have a Long Island Ice Tea ;-) ) and then we went to the REC Center and played for quite a while. It was a fun night.

Year end notes

Today I reset the mileage counter on my bike. The final total for miles this year: 1476. My goal for the coming year is to pass 2000. Now that there is a road going around Foremaster Ridge, I should be able to attain this goal easily. There is also talk of fixing the bike trails, which was the reason why I didn't get as much mileage as I had hoped to.

James is letting me borrow a power supply, so both of my trains are now running. In fact, He gave me a Union Pacific GP Engine so I have been using that. All of my train engines have been f9's, so this is really exciting for me.

New Year's was a success. We had a good party, we played lots of games and watched lots of movies. The first night fireworks were visible from out our front door, so we rang in the new year with fireworks. Taylor got her dreamed about scooter in Christmas 2, so she is extremely happy.