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A couple years ago, Zack was sporting quite a hairdo.

He’d just let it grow and grow until it became a massive curly explosion. Finally I think enough ladies said they preferred it to be a little more trimmed, and now his hair isn’t quite as crazy.

But tonight we saw a parking attendant with an amazing ‘do.

I wonder what the ladies say about it…

Walking along the streets of Seaport Village, I couldn’t resist a pose beside this little beauty.

We bought a museum pass for Balboa Park, which has a number of museums– some more well-known than others. For the next year, it lets us visit any of the museums at any time. We dropped in on the Air and Space Museum with our friends the Knudsens:

Then, with some time before our dinner, we decided on a whim to take a look at the Model Railroad Museum.

It was so cool!

There were many enormous models of landscapes, towns, scenes, and of course miles of (scale model) train tracks running through all of it.

I loved the little “Easter eggs” scattered throughout the scenery.

In some cases, I wondered how you’d even build a model of, say, a car accident where someone lost a load of caged chickens.

Notice the little white chickens running amok. There’s even a tiny rooster right in the center of the shot. The attention to detail was astonishing.

There were even scale models of local areas, including some of the canyons in the area, and El Centro itself (as it was around the turn of the 20th Century).

In short, a museum that I thought would be pretty dry and dull turned out to be a ton of fun. We’ll definitely go back… hopefully at some point with Ollie!

We visited our friend Tracy today. She lives way out in the desert, in a little resort community. In the winter, it’s absolutely hopping and she says there are easily three thousand people in their homes and campers.

In the summer, however, it’s a different story. It’s a ghost town. She says there might be a hundred people at best. The reason was evident on the little weather station in her house:

With a heat index of 133 degrees, it’s not a lot of fun to be outside.

Still, we decided to hop in her trusty little golf cart and take a tour of the place.

It’s a great little area, with nice pools, spas, a well-equipped gym, entertainment rooms, a library, a general store, and all the stuff you’d want if you were spending a few months of the winter in the middle of the desert.

But 133. Sheesh.

In a few weeks we’ll be teaching seminary, and the room where class is held was… well, kind of run-down. I think it’s just one of those areas in the church building that doesn’t get a lot of attention. The only people who really use it are the seminary classes, the young adults, and the missionaries. So it’s sort of neglected. The walls had holes, scuffs, scratches, sticky residue, chipped paint, and so on. Old posters were barely hanging on; some of the photos were downright weird. The computers had a mess of disorganized cables. You get the idea.

We decided it was due for a facelift. We thought it would be really great to paint the room in a nice light blue-grey, or something similar, to give it a quiet, relaxing feel. What a peaceful environment that would make for the groups who used it! Alas, when we asked about doing that, we were told the Church has a single paint color that’s approved for buildings. It’s called Pacer White (which is actually sort of a creamy yellow), and Thou Shalt Not paint walls any other color. Sigh.

We bought a little sampler of the paint and attempted to touch up the scuffs and scratches. However, the new paint didn’t match the old… not because it was the wrong color, but because the walls probably hadn’t been painted since they were first built thirty years ago. The paint itself had simply faded from sunlight and time. In the end, we had to paint everything.

We enlisted the help of a few friends, including our fellow seminary teacher Jen, and went to work on a first coat.

It was a nice improvement, but needed a second coat. We rounded up the hermanas.

After two days of work, the room looked so much better!

I still pine a little bit that we couldn’t paint it blue, but we can feel good that it’s nicer than it was. It’ll elevate our seminary experience.

Kyra and Greta are having a really fun summer… without us. It’s kind of strange to talk to them and hear about their adventures at our home, on the lake with our jet skis and paddleboards, on the local trails, and even with our friends!

The other day they were out on Flathead Lake, and Pepper pulled up her Life360 app. The app lets you see the locations of all your cohorts who have given you permission to see them. Kyra was out on the lake, although apparently not going very fast:

When we commented about it, she replied with this photo:

Yep, the two of them had set up a nice little picnic at Yellow Bay and were enjoying a beautiful summer day on the water.

Of course we’re thrilled they can do this. And of course we’re enjoying our time in California. But on days like this, we wish we could be there with them.

Jersey Mike’s is my third-favorite sandwich chain. A few years ago, I was elated when one opened in Kalispell, and I was a frequent visitor.

When we moved to El Centro, a new Jersey Mike’s was under construction. But according to multiple sources, it had been under construction for many months. Nothing seemed to change, and one rumor was that they’d aborted the effort and abandoned the restaurant. Disappointing.

But on Sunday, there was suddenly a new sign on the side of the building: “Grand opening in 3 days!” Sweet! Wednesday came, and we headed there for lunch.

It was an absolute madhouse, packed with people who were so excited to have a sandwich shop that wasn’t one of the four Subways in town. We talked to a couple of the workers as they furiously built our sandwiches. They were brothers who’d been flown out here from New Jersey (of course!) to oversee the first week of operation. With a crew of a dozen employees bustling behind the counter, these two were calmly and efficiently putting together sandwiches for the dozens of people in line. I could see why the company sends out their elite squad for a new store.

The excitement will likely die down soon, and then I can start getting weekly sandwiches there. Woo hoo!

It was almost two months ago when we visited the Imperial Sand Dunes with the young missionaries serving in our area. Well, after transfers we have some new faces in the group, and they wanted to see the dunes as well.

So we all got up at 4:30 in the morning and headed out there. We beat the sunrise, which is important for two reasons: first, it’s really pretty when the first rays of the day peek above the horizon.

And second, it’s a nice cool 85 degrees. Once the sun is up, you can feel the temperature start to rise. Within maybe half an hour, it’s climbing past 100.

Of course you can’t go to the dunes without snowboards, and we had three this time. We all took turns riding down the steep dunes.

This little group of yahoos is sure a blast.

I’m currently reading The Lord of the Rings for the tenth time (hey, it’s been a while). So it brings me great mirth when I see something like this on the internet:

A few weeks ago we met Gloria. She’s one of those people whose personality is just huge, and you instantly feel like you’ve known her for years. She invited us to her wedding ceremony, which surprised us… normally you’d only invite family and close friends. We’d only known her for a few weeks! But she said we already felt like old friends, and she’d be honored to have us join her on the big day.

Who are we to refuse? We drove out to the Redlands Temple, which (like all temples) is beautiful.

There were about thirty people in the ceremony, so it was a pretty small crowd. Afterward, we waited outside for the newly-married couple to join us.

Although we weren’t in the valley (where temperatures were around 115), it was probably 85 degrees, so standing outside for photos was pretty hot. The couple wisely posed under a tree.

Everyone drove back to the valley for the big party that evening. The reception probably included three hundred people…

… and of course it included a mariachi band.

Around here, you can pretty much find mariachi bands at every wedding, graduation party, and quinceañera. They’re a ton of fun (although they look pretty stoic in my picture).

We met some new friends at the table where we ate dinner. Mari (“like Maria without the A”, she said) and her sister Lorena were a riot.

They’re both in their seventies but have the spark of thirty-year-olds. Lorena knew Gloria (the bride) through her son. Mari didn’t know her at all, but has worked at Costco for twelve years and literally knew people at the wedding just because of that. Mari and her husband ride Harleys and make an annual pilgrimage to Sturgis; in fact, that’s where he proposed to and married her a few years back. It was a blast to hang out with them for the evening.

I can also say it was the hottest wedding I’ve ever attended, because the air conditioning was on the fritz and the reception hall (or “gym” as the uncouth would call it) was easily 85 degrees. Add a few hundred people and little airflow, and it was a bit rough. But hey, if nothing else it’ll give the bride and groom a good story to tell their kids someday.

Here’s wishing all the best to Gloria and Carlos as they start their new life together!