MARCH-ing On

Time has a way of doing that...marching on.

One minute it seems as if nothing is happening & before I know it I'm at the end of another month & I have way too much for one blog post!  Well, technically, it's only St. Patrick's Day but as usual, we've been busy!


Full Moon Hiker's Club...
We were able to make it to February's Full Moon Hike with some friends at Cronan Ranch.  Paul snapped this picture of the group before we took off.  It was super cold but by the time this 1 hour & 45 minute hike was over, we had peeled off most of our layers.  It's amazing that the moon could be so bright that we don't need flashlights on these hikes.  A great group of people & I really enjoy the hikes.  (I play volleyball with several of these ladies every Thursday morning, too.)

Dave Moore Nature Area...
Paul found this easy little one mile trail a few miles down river from the house & we decided to explore it one day.  It was a nice day & the trail came right down onto the River - it was beautiful!  It is actually designed so that people with physical challanges can manipulate the trail & enjoy being outdoors in this natural environment.

We got to watch Kyle's kids recently & decided to take them to explore it, too.  Paul brought along one of our field guilds to help us identify plants & animals we might see along the American River.  The kids had a blast!

We found these mushrooms/toadstools...

These wildflowers which they decided were a White Mule Ears, Western Buttercup, & Miniature Lupine.

We had a great time exploring...

Towards the end of the hike we came across the famous "hamburger" rock.  You can see the girls trying to take a bite out of it...

That night we went to watch da boyz play flag football.  It was crazy cold considering how warm it was that day.  I didn't have the right lens with me to catch any action shots, Cade, Ethan, & Trevor all scored during their games.  The kids had a great time playing on the sidelines with their cousins...

The next day we played around the house - including a serious 3 hour & 15 minute Monopoly game...

Bakersfield...
I always enjoy visiting with my mom.  They do various activities on different days.  She plays Bingo, they do crafts, & she leads her Sit & Stretch exercises.  She has found that she really likes to put puzzles together & she is really quite good at it.  She will come into the puzzle room during down time & work her magic...she can find 6 pieces to every ONE that I find!

She has started attending a Wednesday morning devotional put on by a group of volunteers from a local church.  They sing some of the good old gospel music I remember when I was a kid, like The Old Rugged Cross, & many others.

She reads along with the message out of her mother's bible...some things are just priceless.

One day I met some friends for lunch.  I am having my 40th High School Reunion this year & old friends have been coming out of the woodwork (aka Facebook) trying to contact as many classmates as they can.  They've been posting old photos & stirring up all kinds of fun memories for everyone.  I was asked to contact all the cheerleaders - but since we spent so much time together in high school, I felt like we needed a little head start at catching up, so we met for lunch.

We had so much fun talking & laughing & remembering...aren't we cute?

I learned that the reunion committee was having a meeting that night, too, so I crashed their party since I was in town.  I had a great high school experience.  Our class was pretty close & I have known many of these people since elementary school.

Spring has sprung...
I LOVE when the flowers & the blossoms start to pop around the yard, signaling that spring is around the corner!  I wish the daffodils lasted longer...

In addition to the deer that hang out on our property, we have several of these old geese that loiter as well.  They are messy birds that would take over the place if we'd let them...

After a good spring rain, the ground is soft enough to do a little digging.  So Paul had me out on the tractor helping him with his latest project.  He needed to dig a little trench for some sprinkler lines from the water source at the front gate across the property to the other side where he will be planting an olive vineyard soon.  No, we are not going into the olive oil business, but our water district offers a "small farm rate" that subsidizes your water bill if you plant certain fruit bearing trees.  We plan on taking advantage of that discount!  We will plant the trees here...

So, I drove the tractor...

...while Paul operated the back hoe...

...& we dug this trench.

Class Presentations...
I was honored to be Avery's presentation at her Classical Conversations class last week.  I was literally her "visual aid."  She shared how we travel all over the world & have been to every continent except Antarctica (which her grandfather plans to go to someday, too).  She shared pictures of our travel map & explained that we put a pin in the places we've been to.  She said it is fun to look at & see all the places they've been.

I actually got to see Adison's & Kenyon's presentations, too.  But the pictures I took didn't turn out.  However this picture of Kaden is adorable!  He was so excited to show me this picture he got from a classmate.

We played at the park afterwards & worked up a thirst so we swung by Target for an Icee on the way home...

An Un-Birthday Party...
That very same day was our Relief Society Birthday party.  The Relief Society is the women's organization of our church which just celebrated 171 years of worldwide sisterhood.  Our ward had an Un-Birthday Party - we all wore hats & the Mad Hatter came as a special guest & judged our hat contest.  It was a great evening of fun & friendship!

Bishop Porter (Bass Lake Ward) made a great Mad Hatter!  Here he is with the winners...

Sisters on the Trail...
Our church sponsored the First Annual Mormon Women Marathon (5k, 10k, & 1/2 marathon), A Walk in the Wild, at the El Dorado Trail in Placerville.  There were over 100 women (ages 12 & up) who signed up. I chose to "walk" the 5k.  Many of our Young Women participated & it was a wonderful event!

The runners took off quickly (as most runners do), leaving us walkers to do our thing.  I'm a pretty fast walker so I was soon on my own between the runners & the slower walkers...I loved the mile markers & the inspirational notes that were posted along the trail.

It was a gorgeous day & I made it without any difficulty...

St Paddy's Day...
I wore green to church, taught a lesson to the 14-15 year old girls, took Paul to the train station, then swung by da boyz house because I had a little gift to drop off.  They invited me to stay for dinner & taught me a new game called "Sneak."  The pictures are lousy but the game & the time with family was awesome!

And that wraps things up for now.  Time will continue to MARCH on...at least till April.  :)