an awful happening

well, so i'm walking my donkey from my grandma's to my house the other day, and sometime along the way his hoof chipped in an awful way.


this could be for a number of reasons apparently, but unfortunately they all point to negligence on my part. or actually in this case ignorance.

i did know his hoofs needed trimming, but i just plain feel bad. tommorow i will call for an appointment, this apparently can make him lame.

for shame josiah, for shame.

also, i've been asked over the years whether i should like to be called Joe or Josiah. well, i think i've finally realized what it is!

in a formal or official setting, it's josiah. i hate when i transfer to a ward, and the roll call i sign calls me Joe. this is church, calling me a name. that's josiah. of course, josiah can be applied at any time, by any family or friend, as can Joe, Jos, etc etc etc.... but not by something official!

here's me sporting birth control glasses. marine corps issue glasses, same kind as drew carey. i just found these, i don't actually need glasses







ahhh, naked people... sorry to offend.


well, here's a long one maybe... maybe not though.

as usual, the pictures will be at the top...

first, i went to the last marine corps reserve drill i will ever be required to go to. though, i may stay on recruiters assistance for a couple months here in logan.
we went to 29 palms. the first day we went out i was on road guard duty with our tank. it was very loose sand, and in this type of sand, people throw track sometimes, if their driver is inexperienced.

i had an inexperienced driver. we threw track. so there in 105 degree blistering heat, and with a swarm of bee's (of which i'm deathly allergic) hovering around us, trying to drink our sweat, we broke track, and re attached it. a very arduous process which took all day. and since it's the marine corps, the higher ups were pissed. it didn't affect them in any way, but apparently it was bad any way? ridiculous.
later, we drove over a large amount of concertina wire. this ruins your final drives. makes them leak. so we spent five hours taking it out, instead of sleeping. hard work can ruin any night.
these were just two highlights of the excursion, of course any two weeks in the desert with no showers, and no trips to anywhere to buy anything, and nothing but mre's and a wierd disgusting hot chow that somehow all tastes the same but worse, is going to be a bad two weeks. very miserable.
here's my favorite part about the whole thing though.
the attitude of co-workers at a civilian job. these two weeks were pretty much like war, we ever shot some main gun, etc etc etc. really, the whole thing is very very similar. pretty much we came back from two weeks of non dangerous war. and a boss has the inclination (i almost guarantee it was said to everyone, as it's been said to me countless times) "so, how was your vacation? i hope you enjoyed it while we were stuck here working".

jerks

after that i went back to california for seths being sealed and blessed. a very happy occasion for some, but liz and i both couldn't shake the feeling we were supposed to be happy that our son was sealed away from us for eternity. who began as Seth David Maughan, named after his Great grandpa, and also his grandpa on his other side, my first son, my only link to happiness of the past is now seth david carlson. blessed signed and sealed. now named after some guy's grandpa. and some lady's dad, but not the name, nor in the family i'm most proud of. (oh, hey polly...)

we skipped the rest of church to go to ghiradelli sqare in san francisco. we took bart there, and walked the rest.
we accidently went to the gay pride parade. naked people everywhere. my wife saw her first black... well, i'll actually not finish that. we walked through china town, and finally to the square. the walk made all that chocolate ice cream delicious, and made the bus ride back better. we saw all sorts of flamers, trans sexuals, and straight naked people (i assume) even the cop i asked for directions was a flamer.

i brought my donkey back to my house, as anticipated, he began eating baby tree's. well, not really, only one. i have them all protected with tomato cones, but he found his way through one of them. it's my hopes my yard is too forest like for him to really see them. some died, though i don't think it's a permanent death. and as long as one lived, it's all i really need as they are very simple to propogate.

a post of pictures

i'll go in order of events here.

so we visited texas. on the way there we stopped in at the billie the kid museum, where charlie was arrested. this is him in jail.




the amazing thing about this museum has always been the calf with three two bodies. it's been there for years. one head two bodies. there is no way to get a good picture of it. like those giant tree's.... how do you show how magnificent they are?

also, we found out he doesn't really like that lion. here's him in an argument with him.

he was very bored sitting int the same position facing away from everyone for those twenty hours. poor kid. he did really well though. he was a good sport. it was the way back that he didn't really like.


next we went to the lake. lake nasworthy. that is in san angelo. if that name sounds familiar, it should, it's the same place they took those flds kids. well, so we swam. i didn't mean to get shorts that were the same color as my skin, but here they are. i'll add a bunch of small pictures for this. actually, i won't do anything in order, i'll post pictures and explain them. this one, the one that i'm fat in, is just me pretending to be a fish. or a whale.






everyone has one aunt i'm sure, that pinches your cheeks. this was that aunt. aunt lucy. really, she's my mom's aunt.


we're at the lake here. there's a family guy episode, where he's going to tell a racist joke, so before, he looks everywhere. he looks around corners, etc etc etc. and when it comes time for the punchline, a black guy pops out of the potted plant and asks whats up. the joke is then changed to teach black ideals. right here in the picture, i'm telling a black joke, and one car away is the biggest black man i've ever seen.


the moral of the story? don't. don't tell black jokes, unless you're in utah.

here's gideon and mayra. on my grandma's porch

so me and my cousins daughter alura got into an argument. for a long time we repeated ourselves before it got physical. and she has a twin sister named seven that backs her up. so what'd i have to do? after this offending punch, things got a little out of hand

this is me body slamming seven. i guess she'll think twice before sticking up for her very argumentative sister....

awww, an adorable little girl annemarie. my cousins daughter. my cousin is very pretty too. who is named belen, which i think means bethlehem. a very beautiful name... though i think it's just a middle name.. .i don't really know, but i think her first name is norma.

and my uncle fred. always the nicest guy i've known, i've never known this man to be angry. i accidently got him a diet pepsi, instead of a regular... and he said...."diet" like he was dissappointed. where i would've been angry. i know that's not really a good example, but... i guess i don't have one.
i hope he restores those vehicles he's been wanting too.

we went back to lake nasworthy the next day. this time near a water fall. we put charlie in the water (the temperature was 100 that day.... so we let him try it out) he was scared with the current, and cold of course. but it wasn't long, and i think in the end, he kind of enjoyed it.



my uncle fred again. with his third son josh and his three kids. seven, allura, and rannin. i'm not sure if i spelled any of those right. it's good to see that man smiling. i can't imagine how happy he was then, seeing his children and grandchildren. it's not that common.

am i in a movie here? no. lake nasworthy. yes. i am that white.




this is interesting, we were trying to make gideon look like he was walking on water. no, if you zoom in, or look closely, you can see that he's actually drowning someone.




we went to a wedding too. this is me cleaned up.





my cousins. so here's my family on that side. my uncle fred's biological children include scott, josh, brian, erica, and beaudilio. the children from umparo is named, belen, mayra, and mario.
this is belen mayra, and erica. erica has always reminded us of two people. my mom, and my sister.

this is my abuelita. i love seeing her with my son. he threw up all over her though. very cute old lady. and amazing. so there's something i want you to see. so go down to the house pictures.

umparo and rannin


so like i said i was a little hot in texas. so i enjoyed an otter pop, and my son enjoyed a bottle.

this is unrelated, but i lived with a man once. that's not the story though. we were sitting around asking eachother what we wanted to be when we "grew up" when we were children. some people say cop, fireman, dancer etc etc etc. this man wanted to be the ceo of otter pop. he even wrote them to apply for a job in fifth grade.....

dream on drew. dream on.





here's where i want you to see how amazing my grandma is. every window in this house has been updated by her. those cabinets you see she carried in herself. none of the walls had drywall on them. she put drywall up all over the house including the ceiling, painted it, and installed all these things. her parents built this house. her mom died here. it's a very small crooked house, with no foundation. she also dug under it, and lifted parts of it with a jack, and threw bricks underneath to keep it steady.

this is the back of the house.




seven. pretty picture of her.

grandparents and a smile

sarah's grandparents are old. they have old habits, they're just... old. they move every year (though i think this is their last probably) from quartzsite arizona, to wyoming. every year they stop through.
they are the greatest people i've ever met.
well, this time, they stopped by sarah's dads house, and he wasn't home yet. after waiting, they decided to come try to find my house. so they drove the streets of wellsville, until they decided they were just plain lost. every bit they drove, got less familiar. so they stopped to ask a man in a tractor for help. grandpa didn't want to, but he was forced. of course he thought it was a stupid question "do you know where josiah maughan lives?" this town must be bigger than that! but he asked anyway. the response?
"of course i do, that's my cousin. i'm going that way now, just follow me"


this lady is hard to get a good picture of. she doesn't like pictures of her. so if she knows one is being taken, she glares and turns away. this time i took a random picture of sarah's dad, which he reacted to. she thought it was funny, and i caught her in the best picture taken of her there is.

she was pissed.






well, like i said, they're old. this man cannot see anymore really. he used to love to read. he worked with his hands as much as he could. little mechanic works.one time we were looking through a photo album, and he started to explain a picture of amy, where it was, why he took it etc. but it wasn't of amy, it was a cactus. with his failing eyesight, his whole lifestyle is going away.that's how old people are i guess. well, so sarah's dad insisted that he take his father for a motorcycle ride. the last one of his life probably. it was tough to get him to agree, and it was tough to get him on the bike, but there it is, sarah's dad and grandpa on this bike.







well, it's easier to get a good picture of this man. sarah say's it's wierd to see him with our baby. because he is so proud of him. he'd never say it, well, he might, but he doesn' have to. the look on his face say's it all.




heres' a couple of charlie. one i didn't know was focused on something else, and not him. bad guess camera. and also, bad knowing how to change that, joe.





he is of course the cutest when he sleeps. well, maybe not. but he definately is a very cute kid while he's sleeping.


he's starting to smile more and more. he smiles on demand now. and that's what this picture is, the best caught smile there is. he's like his great grandma. as soon as there is a camera around, here come the glares. but these three pictures are exceptions i guess.








quick update. i traded that truck for a blazer. remember? well, i've been having a hard time getting the motivation, money, and help to fix it up, so i've probably traded it for a truck which already runs, a little ford f250. i like this for several reasons.
1. no top to put on and take off.
2. it's actually a truck
3. it's a ford. i'm a ford man. the blazer is of course, a chevy.