Happy Birthday Sally

It's that time of the year when the McLean family birthdays are in full bloom. I was inspired by Suzanne's post for Jeni in January and followed suit. Then I though, why not do that for all of the children this year. Who has more incriminating photos than Dad? And after a 2.5 year hiatus of scanning old photos, I'm back in the game. I'll do a blog on the process, because it is time consuming. Now, let's get down to business and honor Sally on her . . . well, I'm not allowed to tell you how old she is, but her first photos were in 1979.

You have to admire Suzanne holding a screaming Sally, who clearly wasn't impressed that her big sister who was already taking care of her. Worse yet, Suzanne looked a little spacey in this photo, like, "Why me?"

Tim is much more relaxed (JoAnn says to note the peanut butter on his face - a McLean trait), but Sally is still not impressed with who is holding her. I do think I see a little Joshua in Tim.

This is my personal favorite. It must be Easter Sunday as everyone is dressed up, or at least Sunday. Mom passes little Sally ( 2 months) to Donna who is all ready to receive her and just as focused then as she is today. We have no idea who the little tike in the background is. Some neighbor child watching the goings-on.

Remember Sally, it's okay to suck that thumb. Just ask Charlotte.

This photo may explain why you don't see too many photos of me. Yes, it is barely 1980 and yes that is a red flannel shirt and plaid pants, and no, they were NOT bell-bottoms, but they are bright. I never realized my mustache was quite that big, not to mention the long sideburns. If you would have asked I would have said I never had long sideburns. It didn't seem to bother Sally who was enjoying herself.

I have enough ammunition to go on for months and I'll get another blog up yet this weekend looking at some of Sally's later years. I am also posting photos on our flickr page, so you can go there to see more of our loved ones.

This Spot Reserved for Sally

It's been a busy week and Sally's birthday is tomorrow. I intend to honor her with several more photos, but like I said, it's been a busy week. Stay tuned, but as an appetizer, here is Sally, 2 days old in Ames, IA. Enjoy and watch for more...

Text Messages & Text Photos are the Best

You never know what you are going to get on your phone, especially when it comes to text messages. Lots of times they are just silly. Other times they are profound. Other times they are just family updates. Different messages have different meanings.

On Friday we received 3 photos, in the mail, of our grandchildren in Idaho and I shot a telephone call (I know, that is so 90ish) off to our daughter to tell her how cute the kids were. The next morning I got the following message from our daughter and on Sunday morning I got a photo, which I've played with, and have now several versions of our little dynamo - Charlotte. Keeping up to date with the kids is fun.

"Tell mom, I put the buttons on the dress she finished for Charlotte. I'll text you a photo tomorrow. I'm so glad you liked the pics. I thought surprise mail is fun but even better with photos from the grandkids. By the way, Bekah taught Bonnie to ride her bike this week. It's been fun. Chas of course fell off his bike & now just likes to wear his bike helmet while he pushes his bike."

Everyone knows I can't leave well enough alone and I had a new app for my iPhone, so I had to try it out along with some other apps, and the results of cute little Charlotte are below:

Let's start by just focusing on the dress and keep all the rest a little gray!

And then just a little darker, but good contrast and that cute smile, with the finger in the mouth is highlighted.

Then we add in a little high contrast and get another interesting view!

And finally, just flat out cute!

We had Winter Last Week

Last week we had winter and monsoon season all in three days. It wasn't much of a winter for those of us accustom to midwest winters, but then, this being our 3rd winter in Las Vegas, we found it quite refreshing. The last 2 winters we have had a little snow at our house, but so far this year it has restricted itself to the mountains, which we can see from our home. I do love the snow and I love it even more from a viewing distance.

Just to give you a sense of how wintery it was here, and I use the term winter loosely, we had our 3 days of rain and 1.79 inches of official rain. We had another day of rain this week. The amazing thing is that we exceeded in 3 days all of the 2009 rainfall total (1.59 inches). It is an adjustment when you realize that 1.59 inches in a day in Indiana was not uncommon.

On Saturday morning, the first day after our rain I drove out to the Spring Mountains past the Red Rock Conservation area. I love going out at sunrise, especially when there are low clouds coming over the mountain. It almost looks like a waterfall or ocean wave cresting over the top of the mountain. As the sun crests to the east and I'm looking west at the mountains it touches the top lighting the top against the darkness of the rest of the mountain. There is a beauty I find difficult to describe as I watch the sun march down the mountain and bring life and beauty to it.

As the sun raises in the east it marches down the mountain in the west. Mixed with the clouds cresting over the mountains the mix of white, sunrise orange, , and gold of the rocks mixes to give a warm glow for the morning.

Happy Birthday Jeni

Daughter number 3 inspired me when I saw her blog congratulating Jeni, daughter 2, on her birthday. And, like any good father I'm not telling anyone how old she is. So, enjoy the photos, with no specific date, so you still can't figure out how old she is.

At any age a child is cute and while she isn't very old, but at least 3 months, because that is how old she was when we moved to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. And she's in the crook of my knee.

In Provo, Utah at BYU Jeni is closing on 2, but look at that determination. That hasn't changed one little bit.

At Grandpa & Grandma's house with Spunky, the dog. Now you know where her love of animals comes from.

This is a classic pose and one that I've seen on at least one of her kids. Who says things don't come around. She is 2 years and 3 months old and still at BYU.

Wow, 10 years old and in Ames, IA standing out in the back yard. No, that's not all of our backyard. We lived in a townhouse and it was a common area.

Jeni with her then brother and sisters. 1982 in Ames, IA

Happy Birthday Jeni!

The Cat's Attention

We have had our cat for over 8 years. She has many names, but she is mostly known as the "devil cat" by the kids and a former veterinarian. She hides when family comes. She runs if someone knocks at the door or the doorbell rings. If we walk in the door (no doorbell or knock) she is at the door. The backyard is her domain. Sometimes the wall along the backyard is her domain and we have to wait for her to come back.

She is very much her own cat. She ignores us unless she wants food, water, or to be petted. She and I have an ongoing battle, which I usually lose. I have scratches on my hands pretty regular just to prove it. Yet, we pretty much know who she is, where she is, and what to expect of her. In other words, our cat is pretty predictable. That is until this morning.

I was setting up the television to record a show for JoAnn. After I did I switched it over to local television and PBS where "Nature" was on. I got hooked pretty quickly and it wasn't long before a she wolf was howling. As I was continuing to watch I look over by the corner of the couch and there sits the cat, totally enthralled by the television. This is a behavior we have never seen from Whisper. As you can see from the photos she was totally enthralled watching the various animals, This went on for over 20 minutes until we had to leave.

I Just Couldn't Resist...

I was working on our graduation, blessing, and Christmas photos this afternoon (and no, I'm not done yet, but check flickr for the new photos) and Joshua provided me with another story line. Thanks to Lonita and Tim for creating story lines for Joshua.

It's was Christmas morning and only Joshua's second Christmas, of course he was only 3 months old for his first Christmas, so this one had to be better. It was. It didn't take him any time at all to get into the spirit of ripping open gifts. It's a guy thing!

Let's get started on this gift. I've got the first piece off, but I still can't see anything. Who wrapped this anyway?

I can see it, but just what the heck is it? And how do I get the rest of this paper off?

Okay Mom, let's get this thing open and operational. I'm ready to play.

Oh good, now I've got the help of 2 parents. I think I'm losing control of the situation.

It's all hands now! I'm sure we will get this done before dinner - well, at least I hope so.

And after all that work can you believe that Grandpa didn't take a picture of me having fun with my new school set? Some Grandpa, he forgets to take the good pictures. Oh yea, thanks Chas!