The Redd Hotel

We are enjoying staying with Jeff, Janeen and Bryan Redd this weekend in LaHabra, California. They are very gracious hosts. We always have a wonderful time when we are together.

But that isn't all. A few weeks ago, Eric accompanied a large group of his friends to California. Where did they stay? The Redds. I guess we should call this the Redd Hotel. We are grateful that Eric and his friends picked up after themselves and left a good impression with Jeff and Janeen.

It was appropriate that Jeff asked Eric and a couple of his friends to speak in Church that weekend!

The Redds have a wonderful tradition reminiscent of a fine hotel - a guest book where each visitor is asked to write their name, address and a bit of advice or favorite quotation. It was fun reading the entries Heidi, David, Eric, Ryan and Holly put in the book when they visited in recent months. Claudia and Mark added their entries to the guest book on this trip.

Thank you, Jeff and Janeen, for always making us feel welcome in your home!

Huntington Beach!

Friday night, we drove to California spend Labor Day weekend with the Redds. Saturday afternoon, we luxuriated in the warm sunshine and cool surf at Huntington Beach. Holly brought her friend Kylie Shumway from Mesa. Brian Redd brought his friend Andrew Een to the beach with us. Both kids and adults had a marvelous time.

Claudia enjoyed basking in the sun. Actually, she and Mark took a four mile walk north along the beach and to the end of the Huntington Beach pier. We had both relaxation and exercise!

Mark kept connected to the Internet periodically via his mobile phone. In order to keep the sun out of his eyes, he wore sunglasses. To enable him to see the phone screen he needed reading glasses. So, he sometimes wore both!

Big Buff Bryan! Thanks for sharing your beach with us.

A set of more photos from our delightful time at the beach can be viewed on Flickr.

Thanks for sharing our little vacation with us!

Mentos and Diet Coke

When we begin gathering as a family at Grandma and Grandpa Dixon's home in Jerome last July for our family reunion, the teenagers wandered down to the corner grocery store and came back with the makings of a real science experiment - a couple of six packs of Diet Coke and a generous supply of Mentos. The combination of Diet Coke and Mentos causes a wonderful chemical reaction, which is explained on Wikipedia as the "nucleation-site theory - the surface of the mint Mentos is littered with many small holes, allowing CO₂ bubbles to form very rapidly and in great quantity, in turn causing the jet of foam."

At the request of another Flickr photographer, the following photo is now part of the Planet Mentos group pool of photos.

The initial trials led to all sorts of interesting experiments.

Ryan proved that he couldn't keep Diet Coke and Mentos in his mouth at the same time!

The moral? Eat, drink and be merry - but not Diet Coke and Mentos at the same time!

Standing Around with the Family

Reaching back into the summer, here are couple of memorable photos from the Dixon family reunion. They bring new meaning to the phrase, "just standing around."

I love standing around with these folks!

Hope Flies High

Last weekend, Christian and Stephanie Nielson were horribly injured and burned in a crash of a small private airplane that claimed the life of the pilot, Christian's flight instructor. Christian grew up in our ward and later lived for a time in the ward with Stephanie and their four children. We have all been deeply impacted, both by the severity of their injuries and the faith of their family and friends.

Yesterday, many neighbors and friends gathered across the street from our home to launch helium balloons into the sky, symbolic of our love, faith and best wishes for this young family. At precisely 5pm Arizona time, in sync with other groups at many similar gatherings elsewhere, dozens of bright balloons rose with our hopes into the bright sky.

May the Lord bless and keep you, Stephanie and Christian.

You can see all the photos Mark took at the balloon launch on Flickr.

Twin Falls Temple - Eternal Dixon Family

Finally, here are some photos of the Dixon clan when we gathered after the Twin Falls Temple open house. You can view more photos in Mark's Flickr photo set for the occasion.

"Oh, Ken!"

Family Photo Shoot!

Sorry about the tardiness in posting these photos. Back in July, on the Saturday before Ryan left on his mission, we had a family photo shoot on the ground of the Mesa Arts Center. Here are a few of our favorite shots.

There are many more photos in a variety of poses posted to Mark's Flickr account. These are restricted to access by members of our family. If you would like to be added to the authorized list, please drop us an email.