From the Dixie sun ...

Christian's summer short films

2012-01-10T19:31:00.000-08:00

So Christian took a stop-animation class this summer. I didn't realize it until tonight when we were looking at some stuff on YouTube that he has stuff on YouTube.

Check this out: the good dragon mother:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmLYJVdXCBY

the volkswagon wars - episode 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRnKZpsdN_I&feature=related

Ended 2011 in California

2012-01-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while since I've been on the old blog. Sorry.

Here's what's up. We just got back from a major week-long vacation to California. See Jenn's facebook page for more details.https://www.facebook.com/jpaystrup?sk=photos.

Here's what I wrote on facebook about the trip:

Had a great vacation in So. Calif.:

Monday -- Stopped at M&M World and the Coca-Cola Store in Las Vegas, and drove to Los Angeles.

Tuesday, we went to the Cabrillo Aquarium in the Los Angeles Harber (The parking attendant said the last time he had a Utah license plate at the Cabrillo Aquarium parking lot it was on a car that had David Archuleta in it).

Wednesday, we went to Solvang, one of the most dedicated Danish historic villages in the U.S. it's known as the Danish Capitol of the U.S. Found out that my last name in it's original spelling (Peistrup) is German and has reference to the Slavic word for innkeeper. So one of my great-grandfathers was likely an innkeeper and that's what we used as our surname when we came to the United States. I finally broke down and bought the historic coat of arms sheet and made the discovery.

Thursday, awesome day at Disneyland. It was Jaclyn's first time and she really loved Small World (Holiday edition).

Friday, we went to the Chinese Theater in Hollywood, went and checked out the footprints and starwalk, etc. Christian was in heaven.

Saturday, we went whale watching in the fog. Sure they were there but the fog was thick and the boat didn't end up seeing any. Still it was fun -- we saw sea lions, and seals and all kinds of birds. It was a little cold, but it was fun standing on the bow area of the boat and feeling the spray. It was my first time on boat in the in open water on the ocean. The captain gave us free passes to come back. They are having a record year sighting gray wells migrating to Mexico. We may go back sometime between know and March to try again.

Forgot to mention we went to the Santa Monica Pier on Saturday night. Saw a lot of Wisconsin Badger fans in red. They were having they're Party at The Pier for the Rose Bowl. Ate at Bubba Gump's at the Pier -- the highlight of my vacation. I love that movie! Spent a lot on souvenirs and New Year's Eve dinner. Bought a tee-shirt that said.

Sunday, we drove home.

Fourteenth weather report!

2011-03-19T12:33:00.000-07:00

Christian's last required weather report. He's completed two weeks worth of observations, which should meet the requirements for Cub Scouts. Hooray! He says he wants to continue the weather station, so we'll keep posting reports as he gets them.

Date: March 19, 2011

Time: Time 12:20 a.m.

Skies: Partly cloudy skies. Stratocumulus with sun.

Temperature: 48 degrees F.

Wind speed: 0 to 5 mph.

Wind direction: From the West.

One cloudy day, one clear day

2011-03-19T12:27:00.000-07:00

Two past weather posts.

Date: March 17, 2011

Time: 11:54 a.m.

Precipitation: None.

Clouds: Stratocumulus.

Temperature: 46 degrees F.

Wind speed: 0 to 5 mph.

Wind direction: From the West.

Date: March 18, 2011

Time: 9:35 a.m.

Precipitation: None.

Clouds; No clouds. Sunny skies.

Temperature: 36 degrees F.

Wind speed: Northwest

Christian's weather report

2011-03-16T21:34:00.000-07:00

Christian checked the weather a couple of hours later today, but the temperature at his weather station was 42 degrees F.

Date: March 16, 2011

Time: 9:50 a.m.

Precipitation: None.

Cloud: Stratocumulus.

Wind Speed: 0 to 5 mph.

Wind direction: From the west.

No extreme weather.

Christian's weather report

2011-03-15T22:29:00.001-07:00

Date: March 15, 2011

Time: 8:50 a.m.

Moisture: No rain.

Clouds: Clear skies.

Temperature: 38 degrees F.

Wind speed: 0 to 5 mph.

Wind direction: Coming from the West.

Nice day!

2011-03-12T11:59:00.000-08:00

Nice beautiful Saturday with mostly sunny skies!

Here's Christian's weather report

Date: March 12, 2011

Time: Noon.

No precipitation.

Clouds: Mostly sunny skies with a few cirrus clouds around.

Temperature: 54 degrees F.

Wind speed: 0 to 5 mph

Wind direction: Winds out of the Southwest.

Weather updates -- Three days of weather blog.

2011-03-11T22:09:00.000-08:00

Well, the past two days have been very nice. Getting into the 60s and 70s. Dad (Dave) has spent some time sitting on the front porch bench on the south side at our house and also has been downing some yardwork.

Here are Christian's recordings for the past three days:

Date: March 9, 2011
Time: 7:50 a.m.
Precipitation: No rain.
Clouds: Clear skies.
Temperature: 31 degrees F.
Windspeed: 0 to 5 mph.
Wind direction: North to South.
No other data to report.

Date: March 10, 2011
Time: 7:50 a.m.
Precipitation: No rain.
Clouds: Cirrus.
Temperature: 31 degrees F.
Wind speed: 0 to 5 mph.
Wind direction: Not recorded.
No other data to report.

Date: March 11, 2011
Precipitation: None.
Clouds: Clear skies.
Wind speed: 0 to 5 mph.
Wind direction: From the Northwest.
No other data to report.

Lions and giraffes and elephants ... oh my!

2011-03-11T22:05:00.000-08:00

Nicole did a diarama of the African Savannah for a project in school. Here's a photo.

All hail the hail!

2011-03-08T07:22:00.000-08:00

We had hail yesterday afternoon.
We had North to South winds at gusts 10-15 mph last night.

Weather blog
Date: March 8, 2011
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Trace of precipitation. Likely melted from mid-afternoon hailstorm yesterday.
No clouds visible. Sunny!
Temperature: 40 degrees F.
Weather website shows barametric pressure at Lava Flow station at 30.14.
Wind speed: 0-5 mph
No extreme weather this morning to report.

It's raining but not pouring

2011-03-07T07:37:00.000-08:00

Christian would like report some exciting news. Rain in his rain gauge this morning.
Here's today's report.

Date: March 7, 2011
Time: 7:47 a.m.
Rain: 0.5" (1 cm) in the rain gauge.
Clouds: Stratocumulous.
Temperature: 36 degrees F.
Barometer: Unknown - We don't have one yet, but probably is lower in connection to storm.
Wind speed: 0-5 mph.
Wind direction: West to East.
No extreme weather conditions. Light rain.

Christian's weather report

2011-03-02T19:27:00.001-08:00

Christian's weather report
It was mostly cloudy this morning. Here's the breakdown from the Paystrup home weather station.
Date: March 2, 2011
Location: St. George, Utah.
Time: 7:45 a.m.
Clouds: Gray clouds that seemed low. Christian said they looked like stratocumulus or altostratus.
Morning temperature: 27 degrees F.
Wind speed: Slight breeze.
Wind direction: Not sure.
No rain or snow. No extreme weather.

Note from Dad:
Looking at the seven day forecast on www.thespectrum.com, it looks like we are going to by partly cloudy and warm (in the 60s) into the weekend. Well, see. There's a story hanging the Pacific northwest. We'll have to see if the high pressure system moves out and the storm stretches south to give us some more rain this weekend.

Paul the missionary

2011-03-01T20:48:00.000-08:00

Paul the Missionary

Monday night we had a FHE lesson on the life and missionary work of Paul the apostle. As part of the activity we drew pictures from the story we read about him. Here are the pictures:

Mom (Jennifer) drew the first picture. She says: Paul was a great missionary.

Jaclyn drew two pictures.

In her first one, Paul is teaching people in the temple, like in the story we read. She told me that in her pictures said he's teaching two girls in the temple the gospel.

Her second picture she says is a picture of her going for a walk and enjoying the sunshine, the blue sky, the green grass. She says on while on the walk she is thinking about the story of Paul.

Nicole drew a picture of Paul in prison. She said he prayed to Jesus, so she drew both Paul and Jesus and an orange cat. She said she knows there wasn't a cat there, but she just wanted to draw an orange cat.

Christian took the comic book/graphic novel panel approach. The green crayon didn't show up very well so I adjusted the toning of the imaging and I also labeled the panels with the corresponding numbers because the handwritten numbers didn't show very well.

Here's what he drew and what he told me.

1. Paul is praying while his is prison. 2. Jesus appears to Paul and tells him to stop persecuting the saints of the New Testament. 3. Paul heals the man who couldn't walk. 4. Paul teaches in the temple. 5. He teaches people who visit him in prison.

Finally, the I drew a couple of smiley face figures, yes, I was "all drawed out"-- I drew the picture of when some of the Christian believers helped Paul escape by lowering him over the wall in a very large basket. I told the kids how Paul was like 5 feet tall and so he was small enough to fit in the very large basket.

How's the weather?

2011-03-01T19:47:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been more than a year since the last post. Well, quick recap. Christian is 9, Nicole is 8, Jaclyn is 6.

How's the weather? Ask a Cub Scout

Christian earned his Bear badge in Cub Scouts. He received it at the Blue and Gold banquet on Feb. 23.

He's now working on studying the weather for the next two weeks or so. We've set up a starter weather station.

Here's what we've collected so far.

Feb. 28, 2011
Location: St. George, Utah
Time: 7:45 a.m.
Clouds: A few cumulus clouds.
Temperature: 36 degrees F.
Wind speed: Slight breeze - Winds out of the west.
No rain or snow. No extreme weather.

March, 1, 2011
Location: St. George, Utah
Time: 8:00 a.m.
Clouds: Only a few cirrus and cirrocumulus.
Temperature: 28 degrees F. (-2 degrees C).
Wind speed: Slight breeze.
Wind direction: Winds out of the Southwest.
No rain or snow. No extreme weather.

We'll keep recording and reporting the weather as we collect it.

Snow!

2009-12-12T08:11:00.000-08:00

It only happens maybe once a year. When it does it's a rare treat. We got snow as far down as the Halfway Wash of the Green Valley. Hmm, should we call it the White Wash of the Snow Valley instead. Christian demonstrates that he still remembers snow from Cedar City and Provo days. The girls think it's really cool but weren't dressed in winter attire yet.

Jaclyn's 5th birthday

2009-12-06T19:18:00.000-08:00

Her princess birthday made by her favorite baker, daddy.

Here is Gabriella and a container to keep her dolls in. I think that her dad was her hero that day.

Here is Sharpay and Kelsi to join her High School Musical collection.

Here is her new Troy Bolton doll from High School Musical.

Ms. Toni and Clyde gave Jaclyn an entire princess collection. Which she plays with night and day and insisted on taking to preschool as her show and tell. The only down side is the many small pieces and the fact that every time the clothes need to be changed she comes running to me. The joys of toys.

Crystal wanted us to take home a Ricky "doll" too. But we decided there just wasn't enough room in the car or on the doll shelf.

Jaclyn wanted an Ariel doll. Aunt Crystal decided that she would her a life size mermaid. As you can see from Jaclyn's expression, she was a "little" excited.

Jaclyn loved her new footie jammies that Grandma and Grandpa Call bought her. She especially likes the pink princesses. She wore them every night for the first week. I finally got to wash them.

2009-12-06T19:04:00.000-08:00

Jaclyn and Christian cuddle with Orange at Grandma Paystrup's house.

Christian wins at District Reflections

2009-12-06T18:59:00.000-08:00

Christian won for Washington County School District in the Theater category. His entry has also won at regionals, so now it's on to state competition. This photo was taken on Nov. 24.

Jacyln gets ears pierced

2009-12-06T18:44:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago Jaclyn got here little earsies pierced as she approached her fifth birthday. She also got a cute haircut on that daym the 14th of November.

2009-11-01T07:50:00.000-08:00

The kids stand in front of the hatchback of our green car, Shade, dress in their costumes for Halloween. Jaclyn went as Rupunzel, Nicole as Snow White, and Christian as Seth from Race to Witch Mountain.

2009-11-01T07:27:00.000-08:00

Friday afternoon we had Cub Scouts and built birdhouses. Christian and the other Wolves learned the joys of trying to hammer in a nail straight. The adults did their best, too, but struggled with the nails as well. But we got through it and it was a fun Cub Scout activity. We enjoyed one of the last warm days before it gets too dark and cold for outside meetings.

2009-10-25T11:54:00.002-07:00

Decorations from our booth at Lupitas. We had booth #12. Each booth at Lupita's is decorated differently. The little shelves of trinkets hung in the small shop on main years ago when Dave, Jenn, Christian and Nicole would eat there. Jaclyn has no joined the Lupita's tradition.

2009-10-25T11:49:00.001-07:00

The girls get oohs and aahs from the college girls. Overall response as the college girls saw them: "They're so cute" and one girl even said "I want to get married and have kids so bad."

2009-10-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

Dave says that Utah Shakespearean Festival can tear down the Child Care house they own but they better leave his favorite walnut tree alone. Yes, Dave is a tree-hugger! Literally! Nicole the shutterbug hijacks Dave's solo picture opportunity.

2009-10-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

The reflection of Old Main shows up in the stained glass window of the new Education Building.

2009-10-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

The new Carter Carillon stands in the upper portion of campus between Old Main and the Education Building. First time I've seen this part of campus since they built the two new structures.

2009-10-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

Nicole and Jaclyn show off their spoils -- leaves they picked up from the path to Eccles Coliseum. Nicole is sporting a red shirt to support the T-Birds. Jaclyn decided pink was close enough to red.

2009-10-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Jenn and I went back to SUU for homecoming game against North Dakota. SUU topped NDU 35-10. It was a boring game, but the halftime show by the student association was pretty funny and the girls seemed to enjoy it for the most part and made friends with the kids of other alumni. We didn't take any pictures at the game. But there's not much to share with the game. The fun memories were afterward.

We took the girls on a tour of campus and had a blast playing in the fall leaves on campus. Some of the college girls saw Nicole and Jaclyn playing in the leaves and began the cooing saying things like: "That's so cute."

Then we went to my favorite restaurant Lupita's. The best Mexican restaurant in Cedar City in my opinion. It used to be a small mom and pops in a little cottage on main street in Cedar City. Now they've moved into a bigger location by the freeway and bigger, but it still has Lupita's touch. The food was great. The staff was super friendly and Lupita herself was greeting the customers at the cash register as we left. She gave the girls suckers as we were leaving.

Christian missed out, but he was watching Little Shop Of Horrors at Hale Theater with his aunt Crystal. She spoils him, but I understand he had a fun time too. We have a photo of that too.

2009-09-27T21:03:00.000-07:00

The kids are ready for church. Don't they look so cute!

New toys

2009-09-27T20:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Dave bought a laptop. He is really enjoying his new toy. I finally got a digital camera. I feel like I have finally entered the digital age. I can also add pictures to our blog which makes me really happy. I have been wanting a digital camera for several years. I am so excited that I finally have a camera.

An interesting beginning

2009-08-16T22:14:00.000-07:00

Well I guess it is my job to give all the details of our lives. Life is exciting in the Paystrup household. School began last Thursday. This is my fourth year teaching kindergarten at Dixie Sun Elementary. Our school changed it's name from Dixie Downs to Dixie Sun this year. We are also beginning an extended year model so life is about to get crazy. I have just completed my ARL so I am now officially a teacher or will be in a few weeks. I am also beginning my ESL endorsement in hopes that I can lane change and make more money.

Christian is 8 and in 3rd grade. His teachers are Mrs. Lopez (Spanish) and Ms. Rogers (English). He is in a cluster group for gifted and talented. He loves to write and is excited to learn cursive this year.

Nicole is 7 and in 2nd grade. Her teachers are Mr. R. Garcia (Spanish) and Ms. Hammond (English). She is really excited because her best friend Sadie is in her class. She is a social butterfly and loves to be the center of attention. She is also a non-stop talker. I can't imagine where she got that from.

Jaclyn is 4 and we are looking for a preschool for her. At the moment she spends the day with Miss Toni. She can say the letters in her name and can identify a question mark and an exclamation mark. She is also looking forward to learning Spanish next year. Her two favorite words are gato (cat) and zapato (shoe).

Dave began back to school at the beginning of August. He is attending Western Governors University (WGU). He is going into Special Education, but first he has to complete his speech class and his critical thinking class.

Squeaky (our guinea pig) spends his days eating carrots, drinking and sleeping. He is four and half years old which isn't bad for a guinea pig.
We manage to keep busy and try not to go crazy. We will see how well that goes.

Under construction

2009-08-16T21:48:00.000-07:00

This is the maiden post of our family blog. As you can see it's under construction. Jenn will be joining in soon to add the cute stuff. I'm tech-savvy, but not cute. -- Dave