Christmas Day in Chico

Andrea's learns how to use in-line skates

Chris shows us his skills...

Temple Square Lights

Special thanks to Chris and Melanie for these photos.

Christmas Time

We got our tree up and decorated. It's a 6 foot, $20 Wal Mart Special.

Thanksgiving at the Dodds

Andrea pours the drinks in preparation for the feast.

Boy we made quick work of that meal!

Mmm good food.

Happy here is demonstrating how the rest of us felt after eating. Andrea has the need to bead. Here she is teaching her sisters the intricate art. Thanks to Grandma Dodds saving years of birthday money, Andrea was able to get a really nice sewing machie.
Ben tries to bowl a strike. It's a lot easier on the Wii.

Next up is Andrea. She may not bowl a 300...

But she looks great trying!!!

Our Thankful Turkey

This is Andrea with Turkey-Lurkey, our thankful turkey. Two weeks ago Kristen and Joe came over and had FHE with us. Kristen gave us the materials to make our thankful turkey.

He gets the honerary spot by the TV. I know he's got a lot of colorful feathers, but don't call him a peacock, he'll be offended.

Once we had him on the wall we wrote down some of the things we are thankful for on his feathers.

Ben's Special Surprise Dinner

Last night, I came home from work and Ben surprised me with a special dinner.















He made a three pepper pasta sauce with sausage which we poured over bow tie pasta. He added a tasty salad, delicious garlic bread, and goblets full of grape juice to top it off.















He made it extra special by getting me a big bouqet of flowers and candles. I thought there must be a special occasion for this wonderful dinner, but said it's just because he loves me and wanted to surprise me. It was an awesome surprise. He's the best husband ever!!!!!

Girl time!

I have Mondays off work, so I can spend time with the Van De Graaffs! Here's me with my sister, Kristin, and my neice, Jenna, decorating spoons!

Hollywood Halloween

Here's me with a few of my friends at work. They let us dress up for Halloween, which was tons of fun. That's me in the front as a vampire!

Check out this Halloween video we made that night. Careful......it's a little scary. : O

Hiking Stewart Cascades Trail

Andrea and I went on a hike to Stewart falls which is near Aspen Grove. We went with Andrea's cousin Emily her husband Craig. It was a short 2 mile hike in and the falls were small, but it was a fun adventure.

Umm in case any of you were wondering, Andrea is posing as a gargoyle. I guess it's a Halloween thing.

Ben's Graduation!

Well I done it! Ive done fineshed coledge. Her's the prooof.

Andrea's New Car

Well we finally broke down and bought Andrea a car. We got a 2002 Hyundai Elantra. Andrea just accepted a job at Highland Family Practice, a doctors office about 15 minutes from our apartment, and she's going to need a way to get there. Anyway, here are the pictures.

First Week at Work

So these are some pictures of my new office and of my first assignment. My office is in South Jordan at 11800 South and 5222 West. I work for Kennecott Land, who is responsible for developing the Daybreak site for homes. I work under the Safety Superintendant who was gone on Thursday and Friday of this week, which left me overseeing my first project. (see below)

A major feature of the Daybreak site is it's man-made lake that flows serenely through the neighborhood and provides fishing, peddle boating, and cannoning. This lake is fed by water that is pumped in by two 5000 lb. pumps. These pumps will each push 4000 gallons a minute into the lake. When one of them failed this week, it became a big priority to get it fixed. My job was to ensure that Kennecott Land’s Safety protocols were followed and most importantly, that no one got injured during the critical lifting of the 2.5 ton pump motor.

Once the pump motor was out we had to pull the actual impelers out since it was believed that they were causing the problems with the motor. It took a long time but eventually we got the whole thing safely lifted and set outside where they could be worked on. No one got hurt and there were no close calls which makes it a good day for the guy in charge of safety (and everyone else too).

And we couldn't live in Utah and not celebrate pioneer day. Andrea and I lite off some fire works just for fun. I found two of the longest sparklers I've ever seen. I think they were about four feet long. Andrea is pictured below displaying them.