Walking With Dinonsaurs

I had the opportunity to experience something new and fun Sunday night at Arco Arena (where the Sacramento Kings NBA team plays).

Jason bought tickets for an exhibition called 'Walking With Dinosaurs' and it was amazing. I wasn't sure what to expect when I went there, but for two hours, I was enthralled with what my eyes were seeing.

Blood would go to those spikey things to deter preditors

New Vegetation

Technical Term: Longneckosaurus

There was a guy (I thought of him as a circus ring master) who portrayed a paleontologist. He narrated the whole show and talked about how big the dinosaurs were, what they ate, the changes in the earth, etc. It was very kid friendly and informational for all who were listening - sure, there was the occasional bloody murder scream coming from a small child when the dinosaur would 'look' at the crowd, but it was still fun!

So these dinosaurs were almost to scale and they were 'driven' by people in small car contraptions between their feet. The car was made to look like a rock and you couldn't see the people inside unless you looked hard enough, but to think of how much skill they had to have to drive these things and run it's legs, mouth, and blink its eyes just amazed me.

The smaller dinosaurs had people inside of them, so all you could see were their legs sticking out at the bottom, but they made it all look so realistic! Even the rocks (which portrayed continents) had people inside of them and moved them around the floor to represent the earth moving into the continents we know today. Inside of those rocks, were the 'vegetation' that would sprout out... it was seriously, SO COOL!

Vegetation

Dino Poo

T-Rex defending baby

T-Rex and baby t-rex re-united

The dinosaurs were loud and you could hear their roars, listen to them eat, the thundering of their feet when they would walk....everything was so well put together; I could have stayed another two hours!

Extinction

(Sorry that the pictures are blurry, but we weren't supposed to use a flash)

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

Today was my first glimpse of a hard, winter storm that passed through northern California.

It all started last night with heavy rain and then the wind picked up. The combination was just torrential...the kind of rain and wind where it passes by in sheets and makes the pavement look like it's moving.

When I got up this morning, the wind was howling through the fireplace, doorways, and window sills mimicking the sounds of a cat meowing. I can't even describe the wind - it was fierce and the rain stung your skin when it hit. Talk about a bad hair day...

There were 100 year old trees uprooted from the ground, flooding on streets, pools of mud in backyards, and the little creeks that you didn't know existed were overflowing like raging rivers. I think the most amazing thing that I saw was watching a power line snap in half driving parallel with the road.

As I was looking off into the distance, a bright blue light caught my eye and there was the initial thought of 'who would be setting off a flare in the rain?', then it dawned on me that it was the power line. The line was dancing with blue sparks and waves of electricity which reminded me of watching a heart machine track a heart beat. At the end of the wire was a ball of fire that hit the ground and started a streak of fire... it was so weird to be seeing fire while it was raining. My next thought was of the 6 or so head of cattle that stood in a line, in the water, next to the downed power line hoping they weren't going to turn into all beef patties right in front of my eyes!

When I left work, there was a huge pool of water that I had to get through in order to get on the highway, but I followed a car close enough that they made the wake for me to get through just fine! By the time I got home 10 minutes later, it had let up quite a bit and now it's just raining lightly and not as windy as it had been. There is SO much damage and clean up that will need to take place in the upcoming days. Luckily, we still have power and didn't have that much happen at the apartment complex.

I'm not sure if I'd rather have THIS or ice and snow to deal with?!

I lied.

I'll take this - at least I didn't have to wear mittens today...

Toof

It finally happened!

Happy New Year!

Hard to believe another year has breezed by, huh? I guess it's weny by quickly for me because of all of the changes that have taken place in the last 9 or 10 months!? New sights to see, new job, new friends... I guess this is a good time to reflect on everything that has taken place in my life and give thanks to how blessed I have been in all areas of living and the people that grace my life on a daily basis. So, thanks to you =)

I was able to fly home over Christmas and spend time with my family and friends and it was wonderful. (Cold, but wonderful!) It's amazing how quickly kids grow and change, isn't it? My nephew seemed to have stretched up and my niece is losing her first tooth...how fun!

My days were spent with a revolving door of friends coming in and out of mom and dad's house and spending some time in DM with others....time flies when you're getting caught up on lives from the last 4-5 months since my last visit! I got to see new babies, beautiful pregnant friends, family that I hadn't seen for possibly a year in some cases, and friends that know and love me. I feel so rejuvinated when I visit and realize how much each of you mean to me. (Sorry to sound so sappy, but I'm just being honest!) I just had a great time, that's all!

It was fun to be home and fun to come back to Cali....so hard to believe that the weather is so different just a couple states away, you know? Fortunately, the snow wasn't too bad while I was there and I was able to fly in and out with no problems... However, I had to sit next to creepy creeperton on my way to my layover - he had a HUGE booger hanging out of his nose, popped in some DVD with naked ladies, and coughed on me the entire flight. For those of you who are unaware of my germaphobe tendencies, I wanted to stick my head out my window and breathe some fresh air so bad - or spray Lysol in his general direction. Darn restrictions on aerosols anyway.

Hopefully you had a great New Year's Eve and an even better '08 that lies ahead... my resolution is to keep my blog up better... hee hee....

Peace out.

Lagging...

So sorry that I've been MIA for the last month... I hope to get something of interest out to you all before long, though...that means YOU, little Miss Portland :)

I do know that I'm very excited to get back home to celebrate Christmas with my family and see old friends again and meet some new babies... it will be a great trip, for sure!

Looking forward to seeing you all and for those of you that I won't be able to see in person, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your families and friends, as well!

Steelers Rule

Lucky Girl

A few months back, Jason bought us tickets to go see Maroon5 in concert at Arco Arena (where the NBA team the Sacramento Kings play their home games)...and let me tell you, it was fabo!

Opening acts were Phantom Planet (friends of Maroon5 from L.A.) and The Hives (a group from Sweden). Phantom Planet had a small set up on stage since they were sharing with The Hives, so they didn't have too much room to run around, but they were really energetic.

Then, The Hives came out - I thought the lead singer was a crackpot from the way he was probing the crowd for cheers...like, he was doing the Hulk Hogan hand wave up to his ear - you know what I'm talking about? I was a little annoyed, but there was something about them that I dug. Maybe it was the fact that they all had on black suits with fat black and white striped ties? By the time they were done with their set, I was totally digging on them...the lead singer was SO energetic and just got the crowd absolutely pumped up! It was so much fun watching them...

Ta-da....then the big guns came out... I love Maroon5! Adam Levine = Meow...

Besides the fact that the tallest man in Sacramento County was sitting in front of me [thanks, J for trading seats so I could see :) ] that band never slowed down! I looooved it...the music rocked, the lighting was cool, and the stage had a slight walkway out into the crowd... I love live concerts! Too bad I wasn't able to hear much the next day, but it was well worth it :)

Thanks for the tickets, Jase - I had a great time!