Laws Train Museum

After our hike to Cottonwood Lakes we went to Independence and stayed the night at a hotel. I was a long miserable night because we couldn't sleep. The air conditioning unit was not working properly. We ended up opening the door to let some air come in but we didn't feel like we could sleep because we had the door open. Morning couldn't have come sooner. After breakfast we headed up to Bishop and went to the Laws Train Museum. It is a museum where they have brought in several old buildings, trains, and items that were around at the time that the trains were running through this area. We walked from building to building looking at what was sold in the stores at that time to what the doctors, dentist, and beauty salons looked like. We even to a ride on a train that had some work done on it to restore it. It was a great time to spend some time while we waited for the wedding that we were going to go to in the afternoon at the Mt. Whitney Fish Hatchery just outside of Independence.

Mackay wishing he could drive this old fire truck.

Back in the Saddle again, but where is the horse.

One of the old trains.

Tyler's turn at the wheel.

Ridding the remodeled Death Valley Train.

Toot, toot - blowing the train whistle.

Family Pictures

I just recently got a CD of pictures that we had taken this summer. These were taken in my parents back yard by a friend of my youngest sister. They turned out pretty good and we were pleased with them.

Blog...Shmog...

I have to admit, I have not felt like blogging lately. Why? I really don't know. Maybe it has become boring to me, or I just haven't wanted to take the time to do it. I got so wrapped up in finishing my scrap booking for the year of 2009 that that is where I have spent most of my time, besides doing all the regular stuff that a mom does. Anyway to get everyone updated on the life of the Turner's I will start with the present and work my way back. Here it goes:
This past weekend we decided to invite some neighbors to go down to the temple with us. It was Friday and a flex at that so we took off after the kids were taken to school and then headed to L.A. Thankfully our neighbors kids were able to watch are kids after school so it worked out beautifully for us. Anyway, I took my first name to have temple work done. This was my great uncle, and for whatever reason he had never been sealed to his parents. It was neat to be able to get that done for him. After the temple we went to Red Lobster for lunch then off to the movies to see Avatar in 3-D. Which I have to see was a very impressive show with the 3-D affects and all of the color that they used in the film. I don't care much for all of the fighting, but it was entertaining none the less.
Now for the New Year, we are back on a schedule, the kids are back in school, we have made goals, and we are moving right along. I think the kids are liking being back to school.
For New Years Eve we decided to hang out as a family. We had yummy egg rolls, wantons, salad, and soda. It was great! We then roasted marshmallows and played the Wii as a family. The kids got tired around 9:30 and went to bed on their own while Justin and I still played. We then watched a show. At midnight we said "Happy New Year!" and went to be soon after.
It was a lot of fun! Here are a couple of scrapbook pages from our fun:

Anyway, hopefully I can get a little more excited about blogging, but sometimes you have to wonder if anyone really reads your blog. Well if you do read you will have to give me some encouragement to keep going.

Happy New Year to all!

Thanksgiving Break and Day and Weekend

After Thanksgiving we took off to Sea World and spent a day getting wet on rides and watching shows that have large sea creatures in them. It was so much fun. The kids loved being able to pet the dolphins, manta rays, and star fish. My parents joined us for Thanksgiving and went down with us to Sea World. We loved having them.
The day before Thanksgiving we took the kids over to the bowling alley and played one game. It was fun and the kids enjoyed it. I won with a whopping 99 points, but the kids did good too, thanks to those fabulous bumper lanes.

This is the cute decorations we made for our Thanksgiving feast. Tyler made the place cards by making turkey's with his finger prints and then we cut a toilet paper tube in half and used card sock to make the body, feet, and feathers for our turkey napkin holder. It was a fun craft to do on Thanksgiving Day.

Also on Thanksgiving the men got to work and started cutting down a huge tree we have on the side of our house. We are tired of all of the pine needles and a pine cone fell on the Trooper and broke the windshield so we decided to get ride of the tree. The only problem is we didn't have a ladder tall enough so we just cut most of the branches off and cut a little around the tree to kill it. We will take care of the rest at a latter day.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

Carnival, Air Show, and Apple Pickin'...oh my!

Pumpkin Patch in Tehacchapi
Air Force Base

This weekend was busy, busy, busy. I spent the whole day Friday getting the Fall Carnival ready for the kiddos at Gateway School. Most of the morning was spent blowing up balloons, and moving tables and chairs all over campus. I then went home and cooked and wrapped up 100 hot dogs to sell at the carnival and rushed back to get the food booth ready. I then sat in the 90 + degree weather and melted while I sold water, hot dogs, and large otter pops to those who came by. It was actually kind of fun, but I was so hot and tired and felt bad that I didn't get to go around the carnival with my kids to take pictures, Waaa!

Justin got us up before the sun was even up the next morning and had us drive down to Edwards Air Force Base to see the Air Show they do down there every year. This is the first year we made it. It was totally worth going early to beat traffic and we had a blast. The kids got pictures of themselves in space suits. Mackay is going to Mars and Tyler to the moon. We also got more posters and fliers than we know what to do with. The kids even got to sit inside a couple of the planes. We watched the planes in the sky too, amazing! We left a little early, to beat traffic again and headed over to Tehacchapi to pick apples. The place we usually go was all closed up so we weren't able to pick our own apples, but bought some at another farm. We got some fantastic apple juice too. We then headed to the bakery to get a treat before we headed home. The place used to be a gift shop, but now is a clothing shop. They were having a grand opening so we had hot dogs, chips, and a pop there and then went and got our treat.

It was a great weekend, but our house is now paying for it. I have my work cut out for me tomorrow!

Happiest Place on Earth

They say that Disneyland is the Happiest Place on Earth and I have to agree with people, we spent a very happy 3 days and Disneyland and California Adventure. I think we hit about every ride we wanted to plus saw a few shows. Justin loved Space Mountain and the 3-D bug show (surprisingly), he also enjoyed a ride where you get shot in the air and then fall back down. I noticed the face guards on that ride and knew it was made for people like me who might spew while being shot up and down and opted out of going on that ride. My favorite part of the trip was being there with my sister and her family. We spent one day with them and then did our own thing for the next couple of days. I also liked all of the roller coaster type rides. Mackay said the Buzz Lightyear ride was his favorite and also being there with cousins. Tyler was quite the trooper and did everything without a complaint. He also liked the Buzz Lightyear ride and Space Mountain.
My boys also got to have their dreams come true while at this magical park. They were able to be in the Jedi Academy and fight Darth Vader. It was very cool!

To be a Pioneer

This is a bit late, but while we were in Utah we were able to visit the Heritage Village, which is by the "This is the Place" Monument. They have quite a bit of things to look at and do. It was so interesting to see how life was back in the time that Utah was settled in. It really made me think of my ancestor's and also made me grateful for all of our modern conveniences. I would highly recommend going there for a family outing.


















MJ and TJ showing off their muscles from pulling this handcart.

JT seeking education at the school



Mackay having his first shave in the barber shop.