Images by Memory

Grateful that our Minds are Better than Supercomputers... For better or for worse, I lost my camera and did not find it until after I returned home from the road trip to Florida for Thanksgiving.

Hence, I did not manage to record the adventures with a single photo, however I am converted to the land and will therefore return at another time with camera in hand.

In short, I am grateful for incredible sites of dolphin backs, fading sunsets, ship lights on the horizon, beautiful birds, palm trees of plenty, the smells of the salty ocean, the tastes of freshly picked tangerines, apricot chutney, turkey and stuffing, the sounds of breathing fish, surfacing turtles, bubbling springs, and crashing waves.

Thankful for good memories, safe travels (all 1700 + miles of it) and enjoyment of some of God's creations which are so varied and uniquely beautiful.

Thank you, Tali and Whittemore family, for sharing your home with me!

Maybe Next Thanksgiving...

will be enjoyed off of Planet Earth! Welcome back to the Atlantis crew... Tali, AJ, Angie and I breathed the same air that the Atlantis reentered earth's atmosphere in this morning... Because of their early landing, we missed the site, but it was cool to be here so close!
Check out the video, and watch the third down on the right bar... now that looks like a pretty sweet Thanksgiving!

Atlantis Space Shuttle Landing

This year, it's been a lot of fun to hang out with Tali and her family, the Whittemores in Mims. After a delicious meal, we all went surfing at New Smyrna and caught some waves! The water was awesome... so good that we stayed out and played under the moonlit sky.... Now that's the way to overcome the post-meal sleepiness! Thank you Whittemores!

Perfect Cube

A month has nearly past since the start of a Perfect Cube year.
Renewed by a birthday in November, the year is 1/12th of the way in the past!

To celebrate, I enjoyed a run in DC with my friend, Annie, rounding the Lincoln, Washington Monu. and World War II, as well as passing by Arlington Cem. and the Pentagon... I just don't seem to tire of this run, so I treated myself to it in for a start to a great new year.

After a day of familiarizing myself with the age of 27, Adrienne and Aubrey, pulled off an incredible feat of creating a towering 27-layer cake! We had people over to celebrate as they shared in the delightful treat... much more cake than the average person may ever desire, but delightful nonetheless.

Adrienne, placing the last layer... steady, steady :)

Whipped Cream frosting

Art.
The party would not have been complete without a competition, inspired by Adam, of course... 4 men racing to inhale a quarter-pounder (of CAKE)... Jared pulled off the defeat with Patrick in close second (even with his handicap of additional cake due to his fresh stomach advantage)!

The incentive was disappointingly NOT 27 kisses from yours truly, but a steak... sorry guys, you'll have to be the extenders of invitations if kisses are truly desired.

Ready, set...

How you feeling, Jared? Victory!

Phone calls and kind wishes from family and friends were the icing on the cake---What a perfect start to a new year... Perfectly cubed, 27 is proving to be a great season of life... memories to look back on, bounties to enjoy now and more to look forward to!

Halloween

Halloween was quite eventful this year. Aubrey and Adrienne are really good at making costumes, so we had a good time pulling our creativity together. Adrienne and I found pieces at a second hand store to cut up and alter to create the majority of our costumes, and Aubrey worked her magic in making a plain pink hat into a strawberry shortcake hat!

Aubrey was a true Lisa Simpson, and Adrienne (not pictured) was an authentic Rainbow Bright.

On the Eve of Halloween we went to a barn dance, then on Halloween Kim (lady bug) and I went to Carrie's (Alice in Wonderland) farewell Halloween gathering then had some friends over for an non-costume halloween party where we raced eating donuts on a string and watched Monsters and Aliens.

President Uchtdorf says it well.