Christmas Tree Trimming

Ahhh...Christmas in California--hot, sunny, and so not natural. I was actually sweating standing in line to buy our tree in a t-shirt. Tonight we turned on the tunes and set out to have the kids decorate the tree. The kids had a lot of fun and the only casualties were a snow globe and a red glass bulb. We cleared out the kids to clean up the mess. It was all going great and cheery...till ...

Rich: Mom, the tree is living right?
Mom: Yes, it was, but it was cut down so we could have it. See? It doesn't have any roots. It is like the roses I cut and put in a vase.
Richard ran to the other room. Tearing up, and sobbing.
Rich: WHAT? It is dying? WHY WHY WHY?
Alyson: We killed it?
BOTH OF THEM: Why did we have to let it die? WHY? We killed it. (repeat this for like 10 min)
Mom: They planted another tree in its place. Umm, next year we will get one with roots and then plant it outside in our backyard. (feeling really guilty) We should just enjoy this tree. Thank it for being so beautiful and reminding us of Jesus' birthday and his sacrifice for us.
Richard: I am so sad mom. I want it to live not die.
Goes upstairs to cry. I go upstairs and hug them both.

What wonderful, innocent, and sensitive children I have. No wonder Jesus said to become like little children. They hurt when even a tree is harmed. Lesson learned for myself.

Jeepin Adventure: The Mojave Road

This is Kirk's first attempt at contributing to the blog, so be considerate with comments.. :)

Back in mid November Richard and I set off across the Mojave Desert for a three day "off" road trip. Tom Hanks (Yellow Jeep) and Jared Howell (Red Jeep) joined us. No guy trip would be complete without gas station food and beef jerky, so we stopped just across the Nevada state line near Laughlin to get the goods. It's also a good idea to fill up the gas tank as there are NO services for the next 140 miles of dirt. The trail is called the "Mojave Road". Its an old indian route that was also used by the army before the railroads came across the West. It basically goes from Prescott Arizona to Barstow California, all off-road. If you are that interested in the history click Here.

So we set off across the desert with loads of beef jerky and Richards new Route 66 "Rock On Skull Cap" that he found in the bargain bin at the gas station. The theme of the trip was set by Richard at the very first picture. The only question remaining was whether the price of Chaps went up... or down... This was truly a "guy" adventure!

The first night we camped at an old Army encampment called Piute Fort. The stone walls and corral are all that is left of the fort. There is a stream adjacent to the fort, where lots of water rushes up out of the ground from an earthquake fault line that penetrates the water table below. Its quite unusual to find so much water in the desert! Richard practiced his swordsman moves while we explored the ruins.

Leaving Fort Piute we headed off across the Mojave Preserve. We had 120 miles to go in just 1.5 days, so we did not want to waste too much time! We did not want to miss any of the weird desert stuff (and there is a lot to see). Next stop was some old abandoned homestead. The owners probably defaulted on their sub-prime mortgage and took the house with them! Naturally we had to stop and check it out. I bet we could get a smokin deal on real estate out here...

There are plenty of "tribute markers" on the trail. This one was placed by some railroad buffs just a few weeks before we passed by:

There are many elevation changes across the Mojave Preserve. The trail starts out at just 500 ft and varies to almost 6000 ft in the higher mountain passes. The Joshua Trees start appearing at about 3500 ft. We traveled through the Joshua Tree "forest" on this part of the trail.

Stay tuned for day 3 of the Mojave Road adventure.....