Ten-year-old DJ Baker flies his kite, a biplane, at Kimwood Park in Clifton on a warm early spring morning.

MMA fighter John Ethridge works out at the Eighth Street Gym, Monday March 1, 2010. Ethridge was set to fight at Two Rivers Convention Center March 5.

Nicole Miller, left, laughs with Nancy Fricke as the two stroll along Main Street window shopping and enjoying the morning after having breakfast with their children at Evan’s Deli Thursday. Miller was carrying 1-year-old Ember Wegs as she babysat him while her own daughter Siena, 2, rode on her back as Fricke held her 2-year-old daughter Kate’s hand while the child walked along the top of the brick serpentine wall.

Kim Peterson wraps bamboo with hemp twine as she prepares to hang one of her Divine Feminine series paintings for the Mesa State College senior art show that opens March 19 at The Art Center.

Antonio Villanueva a student at Arizona State University won the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestea’s 2010-2011 Young Artist Competition at the Recital Hall in the Moss Performing Center at Mesa State College.

Mesa County Sheriff authorities and others stand in Lark Drive as smoke fills the neighborhood from a house fire at 418 Lark Drive Thursday night.

Paonia’s Grayson Pipher snags a rebound over Hoehe defenders

Niki Lester, 10, shows off the NASCAR car graphics she helped design at her home in Fruita. She has Down’s syndrome and that is what the car’s graphics are designed around.

Grand Junction High School’s #2 singles player Alex Proietti hits a winner against Jamie Johnson of Central in Thursday’s match.

Department of Transportation workers drill holes into a massive boulder in the middle of I-70 in Glenwood Canyon Tuesday in preparation of clearing the highway.

To the delight of the Rocky Mountain Elementary School student body, Principal Patti Virden kisses Sadie the pig Friday at the school. The event was the culmination of a competition by teams to raise the most funds for classroom supplies; winning team leaders first-grade teacher Bradin Brehm and third-grade teacher Travis Freese also kissed the pig after the fundraiser netted $2,144.27.

Grand Junction’s No. 4 hits a double in the fourth inning Wednesday against Fruita Monument at Suplizio Field.

Co-owner of Naggy McGee’s Irish pub Eric Wilmot leads a toast with his first customers minutes after opening the doors of the establishment on its first day of business. The group was drinking the first Irish car bombs served at the bar. An Irish car bomb is a drink that’s a mixture of Guinness Stout, Bailey’s Irish Cream and Irish whiskey.

Fruita Monument High School sophomores Meredith Soychak, 15, left, and Kaila Kerstetter, also 15, practice their new-found skill of chest compressions as instructor Fidel Garcia dances in the background to the “Saturday Night Fever” theme song during a P.U.L.S.E. class in saving lives Wednesday.

Thoran Earich, left, uses his fingers to figure out an addition problem with blocks as his classmate Eva Stratman and kindergarten teacher Tracy Kolb hold up completed stacks during class at Independence Academy, a charter school in the Grand Valley utilizing a four-day school week.

Spring daffodils soak up a few minutes of sun outside of Two Rivers Convention Center as a winter front moves through the area Tuesday, driving down temperatures in the Grand Valley.

Central High School’s Ashley Paul is blocked by Fruita Monument’s Summer Gienapp in Tuesday’s match as Lynzee Dweyer looks toward Gienapp.

Amanda Helms and Brady Bledsoe of Grand Junction find a place to enjoy the a snowstorm without getting wet at Evan’s Downtown Deli Monday.

To the delight of the student body, Independence Academy Principal Damon Lockhart kisses Junior the goat Wednesday after the schoolchildren raised $1,125 for Homeward Bound.

Kristina Kittelson swimming at Golds Gym.

Congregation Ohr Shalom lay leader David Eisner holds the Hagaddah, the book containing the service for the ritual dinner of Seder, as Marcus Breman, 7, reads from it during Tuesday’s community Passover Seder held at First Congregational Church. Members of Ohr Shalom gathered together on the second day of Passover to remember when their ancestors were slaves. The ceremonial dinner celebrates the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and freedom from slavery. Passover is eight days long, lasting from sundown on Monday until sundown April 6 this year.

Lawrance Slybarger pulls Sarah Webster on a walk in downtown Grand Junction recently. The pair traveled west on Main Street and north on Forth Street hand in hand.

Sasha and Joe Leber and their three children of Delta gather Thursday at the memorial marker donated by Snyder Memorials of Grand Junction and placed outside Roice-Hurst Humane Society. The family owned Buddy, the dog that was dragged to death.