Like Mother, Like Daughter...Like Father, Like Daughter

Wearing Mommy's slippers

Sleeping just like Mommy - in Daddy's bed. (Eliza fell back asleep in my arms 20 minutes after she woke up in the morning. I put her in our bed after Bruce got up to take a shower. When he got out of the shower; he saw Eliza and I like this.)

Look what I can do.

Oh That's easy Daddy! I can do that too!!

Drinking my milk (not really) at my first Cow Sale with Daddy

Wearing Hoodies!!

I love my Daddy!!

How to make Eliza laugh

It's very simple really. Plain silliness totally cracks her up. I simply put a small block on my head, shook it slightly, and let the block fall off. The girl laughed like this for 5 minutes straight. I managed to catch the last couple of minutes of it. (Forgive the grunting in the middle - we did have to change her diaper afterwards) :)

Hoppy Easter

The cupcakes I made for the primary egg hunt activity. They look like cats, but they are supposed to be bunnies.


In the backyard enjoying the Easter Eve weather.


We didn't have a place to build a fire for the traditional weenie roast, so we settled for the grill in our backyard.


I wrote an arrangement for the primary song "Did Jesus Really Live Again?" that the ward choir sang in sacrament meeting today. I've written songs before, but none that have actually been performed. I was a bit nervous about it, but it turned out okay although not as grandiose as it sounded in my head.



Eliza enjoying Easter

My beautiful Easter babe. May we all feel the love of the Savior and the hope that comes through his atonement and resurrection.

Ireland Pictures - a few of the 474 I took

Landing in Ireland
Riding the bus in Ireland. Notice the location of the steering wheel and other side of the road. I never got used to making a left turn into the close lane of traffic. I always wondered why there were cars in our lane facing us.

Irish National Stud. Queen Elizabeth visited here last year.

A future stud at the National Stud

Irish dairy barn

Irish grazing dairy

Overpass for the cows to cross to get to the other pasture

We toured the Guinness factory and got a free pint. It was actually relevant to the dairy industry. We use a by-product - brewer's grain to feed dairy cows and barley processing is similar to the processing of other dairy grains.

Dr. Slane checking out our hostel. Guess who got the top bunk.

On a street lamp post

St. Patrick's cathedral in Dublin

War hospital converted to MuseumSecond tallest pylon in the world. The tallest is Washington monument.Bridge in Dublin

I guess when your city is built around a river, you become creative in building bridges.

Hay-penny bridge

Millenial tower in Dublin

Dublin Leprachan

Irish TMR

Keenan mixer wagon. Keenan is based out of Ireland and sponsored my research at the U of I. We ran out of time to visit their factory.

Grazing Jerseys

Morris - one of the original family names in Gallway. Mr. Morris is the other dairy professor at our college who has been on medical leave for several months.

They are proud of their Rugby teams in Ireland. We were there when Ireland beat Scotland.Arms represent friendship, heart represents love, the crown represents loyalty. This shop makes these rings.

"Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy"

The college in Gallway reminded me of Hogwarts.

Can't you imagine Harry, Ron, and Hermonie running through there?

Lookout tower above the Cliffs of Mohor

Hard to see the cliffs through the mists.

Wow!

When I in awesome wonder, consider all the works Thy hands have made.

Anyone recognize this rock from Harry Potter number 6? Thankfully the mists lifted so we could see the Cliffs of Mohor

Irish grazing land

This group calf feeding system didn't seem hygenic to US dairy kids used to individual calf hutches...

It's hard to argue with success though. Not only were the calves happy to eat from it, there wasn't any coughing or other signs of illness in these calves.

Irish Dairyman's house

Limerick - you can't tell by the number of pictures I took how much I loved this city. I went for a run without my camera and got a closer look at that cathedral and charged Prince John's castle, crossing a bridge into the castle wall all by myself. There were also rowers on the river. I wished rowing had been included in our schedule.

Road to the Agriculture College Dairy

Ag college dairy barn

Milking parlor

Irish milk truck

Calves

Irish Beef

Irish Sheep

We visited an agriculture school

Anyone who thinks the dairy industry is old-fashioned or dying should visit a place like DairyMaster. Pictures weren't allowed inside. We saw lazer machines that cut out intricate parts of milking parlors. We heard about milk tanks that detect when they are not cooling and send you a text message. We saw the parts for carosel and parallel milking parlors. It was amazing!

We were so excited they had a welcome sign for us and they didn't think we were from Delaware!

Ready to learn

Countryside as seen from a moving bus.

Railroad Hostel in Killarney

Dinner in a pub

Lamb stew...mmm

While half the students were horse-back riding and the other half shopping, I ran to this lake on the west side of Killarney.

I stuck my toes in, but didn't dare swim for fear of not being allowed back on the bus.

Being alone, I took a self portrait by the lake.

Irish Deer

Killarney Cathedral

This picture taken from the bus is of a castle that belonged to William Penn's father.

I still can't believe how lush and green the grass was in Ireland. No wonder they feed their cows grass instead of corn and soybeans.

I took my students to a grazing farm in Maryland this week. It was nice, but not nearly as green, lush, and full as the grass in Ireland.

Students discussing dairy strategy with an Irish Dairyman

Automated calf feeders feed calves different quantities based on size.

Beautiful Blarney Castle

Legend has it a tongue-tied Irish-man saved a drowning witch.

To reward him, the witch told him if he would kiss the stone on the ramparts between the castle wall and outer ramparts above the top window on the west side of the castle, his tongue would be loosed. The stuttering Irish man kissed the stone and became a great statesman, speaking eloquently, though sometimes not the whole truth - full of Blarney.

Kissing the Blarney Stone. My students dared me to do it. I didn't tell them I was going to do it already anyway because Grandma Smith told me to.

On the ramparts of Blarney Castle

Looking down into the kitchen

Inside the castle. I changed my mind about buying a house, I want to buy a castle.

Legend has it that this cave was an escape route

Try and scale that wall!

Dr. Richards at the Blarney Castle

Cathedral in Cork

Street in Cork

All 4 faces of this tower have a clock, and all 4 clocks have a different time, thus it is called the 4 faced liar.

I think my friend, Jason influenced me to run around, while everyone else was resting after a long day, and take pictures of all this architecture. I wonder if he takes pictures of cows now?

A cow stuck in a tree?

Cork Opera House

Built in the same time period as the Salt Lake Temple

Spire looks like the Salt Lake Temple spire

College in Cork

How many people do you know that have toured the Cork Butter Museum?

Rare speciman of 1000 year old butter

Milk cans of all types

Cork butter exchange

Before and after grazing

Ireland research farm tour

Lunch break castle

Lining up to check in the hostal in Dublin

Trinity College

Library in Dublin Castle

Garden in Dublin Castle

Bridge in Dublin Castle