Cienna Taegan Rathjen

Cienna made her appearance 3 weeks early, but is still doing fine. Stats are 5lb 15 oz and 17 1/2 inches long. Everyone is well.

Panama Day 3

We went to the temple while we were in Panama. It's an interesting experience to attend a temple that has the session in a language other than English. I was definitely in the minority. Fortunately on each session in the Panama Temple there is always at least two people that speak English. It was a wonderful time.

Joe's arm span is almost as long as the Harpy Eagle.

The same kind of monkey that was used in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean.

These are just some pictures of local wildlife. This was at a small zoo called The Summit. It's located at the summit of the Continental Divide in Panama.

Panama Day 2

This crane is one of four of the largest floating cranes in the world. It's called the Titan Crane. Howard Hughes used this particular one when he was doing something with his plane the Spruce Goose, but I couldn't hear very well what the tour guide was saying.

One of the many cargo ships that passes through the canal. This one is headed to the Atlantic Ocean.









It's difficult to tell how big this ship is from the picture, but trust me. It is huge.







This is the wonderful couple that took us everywhere while we were in Panama. Soriam and Jennifer were the perfect tour guides. We had a lot of fun visiting with them.

This is how close we are to the wall of the lock.

Entering the lock.

Each lock either drops or raises depending on which direction on is going. The difference is about 30 feet per lock.

Maintenance work on the canal is done on a daily basis. Here they are replacing one of the buoys that are in one of the artificial lakes the ships pass through on the canal.

Just before Mirasflores Lock.

The last gate before getting to the Pacific Ocean.

The only presence of American troops of any kind that are permitted in Panama are the ones that go after the drug runners.

This is the line to cross the canal. It's a 3 day wait. Cruise ships however reserve a slot a year in advance and so they get to go to the front of the line.

Panama Day 1

The two of us at the Miraflores lock. They have a visitor center there where you can watch the ship go through the locks.

Day 1 of our trip to Panama.

Panama City from our hotel room.

Choose to Become

Again Time Out For Women was everything I hoped it would be. The messages and song were inspirational and just what I needed to hear. What made it even better was Laura and Linda getting to be on the team with me.

I apologize for the quality of the pictures. I took them with my phone and the flash didn't go off on any of them.

Jericho Road, the Mormon boy band all grown up.

Team meeting before the event. My two lovely girls.

Welcome Home

For the past few years I have been making a yearly trip to visit my mother's embroidery machine. Oops, I mean my parents the machine is an added bonus. And every year when I get home there is some kind of surprise waiting for me. One year it was the living room redecorated. This year, Rebekah and Linda decided to surprise me with my own craft room. This is what it looks like.

This is my wall of fame. A family photo wall. I love this!

On the opposite wall I have this. Bekah did the butterfly and flowers.

I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful family. It makes coming home all the better.
Now I have my own little space for all my craft things. Poor Sean, I don't know where he's going to sleep when he gets back. Well, there's always the basement.

Another Adventure in Traveling

Traveling is always an adventure. Sometimes is more of an adventure than others. Last year when I came home from visiting my folks I almost didn't make it to the airport in time because of a snowstorm. This year was slightly different as the storm hit Denver rather than Seattle. The flight leaving Seattle was delayed almost two hours because we were waiting for it to arrive from Denver. In Denver, because of the snow all the planes had to be deiced and that in itself takes time. Take into account all the planes that need this process done and it's a recipe for a delayed flight. Luckily for me my connecting flight in Denver was also delayed, but as it is I had about 10 minutes to get to the gate. I really do not like running through airports. Next time, I'm visiting in the summer.

An Old Hobby Made New

Needle work has been around for centuries. The finished projects are beautiful, but very time consuming. I don't mind putting in the time for making a piece of artwork like "O Jerusalem", but as I get older it gets more difficult. I have to be very selective of what I choose to do because of this. Well now I don't have to.

While visiting my parents for a couple of weeks, my mother and I attended a seminar. This seminar was to learn new techniques in the use of an embroidery machine.

It is also on big long infomercial for the different products used in this hobby, such as stabilizers, threads, and of course the machine itself. At these types of trade shows one can get a deal on a machine and since I'm a sucker for a good deal... yup I got myself a new toy.

This is not my new toy. This machine was so complicated to use that I didn't like it.

It should get here in the next few days. Now no more trips to Seattle to use my mother's embroidery machines. I can make those trips to have other kinds of fun like a tour of the harbor.

Just one of the beautiful quilts on display not necessarily done on an embroidery machine, but still nice.

Just a shot of the set up of the seminar. There were 24 tables with three machines to each table.


Another pretty quilt.

This one is just cute.

This quilt was done on the embroidery machine. It is actually 3D which I thought was cool and since I am such a geek, I bought the CD used to make it. The CD is actually for making a book, but the pages easily convert to quilt blocks. Of course it helps to wear the 3D glasses to get the full effect.

My New Ride

This is cocoa. Why do I call my new ride cocoa? Well, I like chocolate. Sometimes I even crave it. Since this car is a crv which sounds a lot like crave to me it just seemed logical. Okay so it's not logical, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Elder Fackrell

A dear sister in the ward where Sean serves sent this to me so I thought I would post it.

Another 15 Minutes of Fame

No description necessary right?!?

Notice who's in the middle front and center. Yup that's my darling little red head Bekah. This was in the Sun Newspaper this last week.

Cierra Thalia Rathjen

That's right Linda is having a girl. At least the technician was 85% sure that's what she saw. The baby was being very shy and we couldn't see very well any parts. The tech. also gave Linda a due date of January 13. That's according to what was seen on the sonogram. I'm excited about that. If you noticed they are keeping the tradition alive of having CTR for the initials. This is the name they have decided on for a girl. Granted Cierra is usually spelled with an "s", but "c" can sometimes sound like an "s" so it works. These are Cierra's first pictures.

Just Because

I just love those times when somebody does something nice for no reason, just because. The other day my DSH bought me a dozen roses. It probably helped that they were on sale at HyVee, but I'll take what I can get. I know the color isn't coming through well, but a majority of the blooms were a light purple. Seeing as how purple is my absolute favorite color it's a double bonus. Thanks Dear.

The cat is on guard. Don't mess with my flowers.