April 2009

Trice says nobody cares about my explanation of what's going on so since a picture is worth a thousand words, we'll just post them...



This is what Trice sees every day at work... Life is tough.













Mariah just gets cuter...












...and cuter












...and learns all the most important stuff...






Kiel and Melissa were married last Saturday morning. Here are a couple pictures from the temple and the reception. They'll be living in Redondo Beach over looking the beach. They are in Mexico (not catching the flu, we hope) for their honeymoon. We'll post more pictures of the reception after they get them and pass them on. It was a great day - amazing how that works.

Christmas 2008

As I sit here a few days after Christmas, it is too easy to wax prosaic on the joys of the holiday; we went to someone else's house, slept in their guest room, ate their food, used their shower, lounged about like cats (the most useless of all domestic animals), and then simply got up and left with hardly a thank you. It was the first time in almost 30 years that we spent Christmas away from our own home. I guess we should get used to going somewhere else from now on or spending it with many fewer people around but still...


We had a great time at Shelley's, Steve's, and Mariah's house in Yucaipa this year. Lisa came up from San Diego, Celia flew in from Provo, and Kiel and Melissa came over from Manhattan Beach. Brigitte, Tyler, and Logan were in Utah this year and Brittany went to visit Gabe's family in West Virginia (more on that later). Since Kiel had to work on Christmas eve and Christmas day, we did the Gift of the Magi sob fest (a local tradition where the kids get to make fun of dad as he attempts to read the story with dry eyes) and the present opening on the evening of the 23rd and Christmas eve morning. Opening presents is always alot of fun; to see people opening a real surprise gift is a great source of amusement. This time we got to watch as Mariah opened presents for the first time. She was particularly fond of a drum and her (Steve's) new wagon. The wagon, it turns out, was designed with two small riders in mind. It came complete with cup holders and seat belts. The seat belts were NOT Mariah's favorite feature although she got a little more used to them after moving outside and starting the actual ride.

Christmas eve evening we enjoyed the hospitality of Steve's brother and family for dinner and family fellowship. I particularly enjoyed a long discussion with Doug, Steve's dad, and getting to know him better. He is a remarkable man and has had a number of great faith promoting experiences in his life.

Christmas day was actually pretty uneventful for us. It rained all day and since Kiel and Melissa had gone and Steve, Shelley, and Mariah had gone to Steve's family for gifts and family stuff, Trice, Celia, Lisa, and I were left to our own devices. We found Ben-Hur on TMC without commercials and settled in for a long watch... great show. I mentioned earlier that Brittany wasn't with us on this trip; she went to West Virginia this year to visit with the family of her friend Gabe. When I tell this to anyone it seems that the standard response is a knowing wink and a nod. Am I missing something? Anyway, she and Gabe have been seeing alot of each other over the past few months. He is a fine man and is studying speech therapy at Cal State where he plans to finish his Master's program this summer.

After the show, everything was pretty much on rest and relax... I can't remember much of what we did except play games and watch Mariah. The best part of the days there was getting to know Mariah better. All Trice wanted her to do was call us Opa and Omi. She seems to have an aversion to the "m" sounds. As a parting note I don't mind saying that I was overjoyed to hear that after we left, Mariah would look around and say "Papa?" which was about as close as we got to Opa. That's my girl!

As Trice, Celia, and I returned to a very cold house after a long drive home, I think we all feel the same gratitude for many, many blessings. I hope that you all take a few minutes to count yours and remember where they come from. Life is good in spite of the bumps in the road.

Merry Christmas!

Business in Japan.... again.

Just got back Saturday from another week in Japan.  I was in Osaka for the general membership meeting of the SD Card Association for which I serve as the Executive Director.  Great meeting;  the group made alot of progress on specification and marketing work.  On Wednesday we had a board dinner at a very traditional restaurant built on the grounds of an old estate belonging to the family of a baron of the empire.  The picture of course one of twelve.  They sure like fish... some of it was even cooked.  I really enjoy meeting with the members from all over the world.  My flight back didn't leave till after 5PM on Saturday so w few of us got together and toured the Osaka castle.   Great history in Osaka.  The castle was destroyed and rebuilt at least three times since the 1600's.  The last time by the citizenry of Osaka in 1961, I think.  We got a guided tour of the grounds from two very nice volunteer ladies who were sent by a service the Hotel Otani (where we stayed) engages.  Unfortunately they couldn't speak much English.  They were fun though and we had a good time trying to understand what they were telling us.  One said she made an entire suit of samurai armor out of paper (probably cardboard type) which weighs about 4 kilos compared to the 20-25 kilos that the real stuff weighed.  She seemed quite the enthusiast.  After the castle we walked to a restaurant one of the guys knew... it was closed.  Bummer...  So after a significant walk and a couple very real blisters, we ate some delicious American fast food.  As much as I really like Japanese culture and business practices, I just can't seem to get used to raw fish.  Kudos to anyone who can.  

30 years!

Thanks to our children who thoughtfully provided us a night on the town.  We had a great night on the Hornblower dinner/dance cruise.  Dinner was outstanding and the dancing was... well it was fun to watch.  There was a live "band" on board and they were pretty good.  The evening was foggy and a little brisk on the deck so we stayed in the dining room and didn't brave the weather.  It was a really fun time together. 

Kiel's CHP graduation day!

Well, it's been a long time coming but at last the day is here!  We just got home from Sacramento where we witnessed Kiel's graduation from the California Highway Patrol  academy and his promotion from Cadet to Officer.  Patrice pinned his badge on him as part of the formal ceremony and now he is officially a Highway Patrol Officer.  His first field assignment, for those who don't already know, will be South Los Angeles and he will live in Manhattan Beach where he and a few others found a house together.  He will start there in 10 days so we have him till Tuesday and then he's off to set up shop in SoCal.  You know, I wonder if the NorCal sticker on his car will have to come off now... 

Christmas 2007

Christmas Eve 2007

Well it's Christmas time again and the painful stuff is over... you know, the lights, the decorations, the tree; all that stuff we really look forward to (ooh, ending a sentence with a preposition?).  Now the real holiday begins and the good stuff starts.  Celia arrived home from her first semester at BYU reporting success on all fronts except the dreaded Nutrition class.  Most importantly, she is having fun and that is something she never expected to say about school.  She likes her roommates; she confessed this through tears of joy while saying that she "loves them with every fiber of her being".  All in all, I think that the college experience has done her good.  Lisa was next to arrive home.  Pearl, her car, is healthy and is now paid for! That means that she can save something.  Only 7 more months and she will be through her paralegal training and can begin a new and hopefully more profitable chapter in her working life.  She still lives in San Diego and divides her time between work, church service, fun with friends and helping those hit recently by the wildfires in Southern California.  She and her roommates narrowly avoided evacuation themselves when the fire turned during the night.  Living near a temple probably helped in that.  Kiel made it home again on Friday.  He is about 1/3 of the way through the CHP academy in Sacramento and while enjoying it is maybe not the phrase to describe it, he is finding satisfaction in succeeding there.  The boot camp like environment demands a great deal of self discipline which is something always best learned young.  Alot of his fellow cadets appear not to have learned it though as Kiel and his compadres do many a pushup and squat thrust to pay for infractions committed by the less disciplined.  On the flip side we are often regaled by recitations of penal code sections and the occasional arrest demonstration.  Brittany... well Brittany has provided us much of the excitement this year.  After testing her stamina and recuperative powers against other cars and walls, she may have decided that parent's advice isn't so bad.  Of course our once healthy stable of fine automobiles has taken a hit but we are grateful beyond measure that she is still with us (and that she is paying her own insurance).  She still works as an assistant to Dr. Blatter and enjoys her work there.  She enjoys a healthy, if somewhat active, social life several nights a week.   Shelley, Steve, and Mariah arrived this morning at 3:30 AM after a long drive from their home in southern California.  Steve has been kept busy by all the fires in SoCal and Shelley has been trying to figure out what to do with herself and all her free time as a new mom... dishes play no part in that.  They have plenty to do in making a home in their new house and taking care of Mariah.  Mariah is just as cute as we've told everyone and has everyone in the palm of her hand, so to speak, wherever she goes.  We do miss having Brigitte and Tyler with us for Christmas this year but I guess we do have to share.  They are spending time this Christmas with Tyler's family while they wait out the last month for Logan's arrival.  They moved into their own apartment recently and are enjoying being in their own place.  I believe we are all greatly blessed and should be grateful for the good things in our lives.  We hope you all are having a wonderful holiday and that the new year holds great things in store for you!

Merry Christmas!