Christmas 1995

We enjoy hearing from each of you at this time of year and are happy to give you our report as well.

Lenore and I finally had a "honeymoon". We gave in to all the talk, pulled out the credit cards and spent a week in Hawaii during the early part of June. Not being big time tourists, we stayed most of the time on the garden island of Kauai. A nice summer (southern) swell hit the islands about the time that we did so I was able to do some bodysurfing at Poipu beach in some respectably sized waves. Later that day we found ourselves searching for a hidden surf spot called "infinities" off the beaten track to watch the heroic ones ride some real sized Hawaiian waves. This was near Waimea bay on Kauai's southern shore (not to be confused with the better-known northern shore one on the island of Oahu). I did board surf at Waikiki with relative success. Surfing once a year at best is no way to stay in shape for the sport. After an hour or so my surfing specific muscles were wiped out. I had classic rubber arms and a sore back from the paddling and such.

Neither one of us had been snorkeling in some time and never under such good conditions as at Kee and Anini beaches on Kauai and especially at Hanauma bay on Oahu. It's amazing how much entertainment you can derive from trying to fake the fish into thinking that you have food for them and chasing them around. We spotted a moray eel at Anini beach and took turns trying to push each other toward it. Windsurfing at Anini beach was also quite a bit better than any place I had ever been.

On Oahu Lenore wanted to try to locate the house where her family lived until she was two. This proved to be a tension producing experience for our otherwise blissful week. Contrary to normal gender behavior patterns this time I was the one who wanted her to ask people for directions and she wanted to drive around until we found the house. We eventually did find it and have erected a suitable monument in the front yard complete with global positioning satellite technology to make it easier to locate the next time.

During the 94-95 school year the kids in Ailsa's school were "training" for the Salt Lake Classic 5k run in June. Using subterfuge and her budding feminine wiles she coerced me into accompanying her. We had a good time and got a neato t-shirt to boot. There were many people running. We came in close to the back of the field of about 1900 runners (very close to the back, let's just say our finishing time would not even make a very respectable 10k time). Ailsa's training evidently did not take her to the point where you learn that when you get tired you keep running anyway. She will be turning eight years old in early December and we look forward to her baptism in early January. She is still as flighty as a feather and a bit of a flibberty jibbit. Recently at school she was distracted while running through the hall. She ran face first into a wall and banged herself up pretty well.

Early in the year, Jensen had an operation to remove a "cavernous hemangioma" from near her naval. (She got pretty good at saying "cavernous hemangioma".) All these years we thought it was a herniated umbilical. She had one of those too. We called it a "hyena", in honor of the movie Sixteen Candles. In the first surgery only the hernia was taken care of. The hemangioma was found to be more involved than the doctor had first thought. It was removed in a second surgery at primary children's hospital. Jensen and Lenore stayed the night in the hospital and then they came home. Jensen is fine and now has a nice smooth tummy with no bump. She also has a Madeleinesque scar on her tummy. But, refuses to sing, "voila¡, my scar". In her teenage years I'm sure she will accuse us of submitting her for the surgery simply to discourage the wearing of two piece bathing suits. The "defect" was not unlike one that her daddy had removed when he was a wee one. Lenore says we now know what side of the family the defects come from.

This has been the year of my becoming a bicycling fanatic. In the nine years since I bought my bike (road) I hadn't ridden it enough to justify spending so much money on it. However, this year I put 2200-2500 miles on it mostly commuting to and from work. I was able to start riding to work around the end of February.

I also participated in my first "century" ride (100 miles) in May and this proved to be more fun than even you lay people would think. Just surviving is enough to make one ecstatic. I had two main fears going in: can I really sit on a bicycle seat for that long without sustaining permanent damage? (permanent-no, damage-yes) and can I choose a respectable pace that I can maintain without dying? (I also had to sing in a concert a couple of hours afterward.) The six hour pace proved more than doable. I think I will try again this year at a five hour pace. It may be that the pros ride as fast as they do because it will minimize the time spent with their tender behinds on the saddle.

Shortly after we returned from Hawaii we found out that our ward boundaries were being changed. We and a few of our neighbors were sloughed off into a neighboring ward. So we are learning a lot of new names and faces still. And we miss our old familiar surroundings.

The kids spend an awful lot of their spare time playing on the computer. Fortunately we have been able to direct their interest toward games and activities that are at least marginally educational. It is interesting to watch them become adept (with very little instruction) at managing the mouse and navigating the desktop. Every so often though, they will accidentally delete an icon off the desktop or change the settings on a game or send a job to the printer without meaning to. Then, daddy has to straighten things out.

Our cats are still the silliest creatures ever to stalk a grasshopper. My biggest concern with them this time of year is to keep them from drinking all of the water from the Christmas tree stand and thus causing the tree to dry out. Every year when Lenore and the kids spend some time at her parent's house in California, the cats grow lonely without the family around during the day. Ruby shows it the most. She comes around just when I have gotten into bed and lapses into her "are you my mommy?" behavior, kneading my leg or my arm with her forepaws, trying to get me to pet her or scratch her, and even threatening to rub her face on mine, all the while purring like a 300 horsepower diesel engine.

We are truly grateful for you, our good friends and relatives. We marvel at the love of our Heavenly father for providing us this wonderful world and such blessings, and at the love of our Savior who came to earth to die for us and set us free. We recognize our eternal indebtedness to them. We look forward to many happy reunions with you. In the meantime, be well, do good work and keep in touch.

With Love, Todd, Lenore, Ailsa, and Jensen.